Pakistan Security Brief

PML-N has 124 seats, PPP has 31, PTI has 27 in final count; ECP refuses to recount votes in NA-122 or re-poll all of NA-250; Imran Khan expected to leave hospital in two weeks; Votes will be re-counter or re-run for eight national assembly seats; Sharif says corruption will not be tolerated; Kayani wants parliament to serve the people and says army will support further re-elections; ANP to sit in opposition and condemns violence that hindered his party's activities; PML-N invited JUI-F to join coalition; Ashraf appeared before NAB for rental power projects case; Fifteen killed in two mosque bombs; NATO truck driver killed; Head of kidnapping ring arrested; Peace body head killed; Market explosions kill four in North Waziristan; Former JI Nazim killed; Five security personnel killed in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa; 100,000 tons of wheat to be exported to Iran in payment for electricity; Pakistan to release 51 Indian fishermen.

Domestic Politics

• Final tallies on Thursday show that Nawaz Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) won a total of 124 seats out of 272 in the National Assembly, a large enough portion that it will not have to form a coalition government after securing the support of like-minded independents. The Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) came in second with 31 and the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) third with 27. Recount or re-polling are planned in eleven constituencies.[1]

• On Friday, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) refused Imran Khan's request to recount votes in Lahore's NA-122 constituency and the Muttahida Qaumi Movement's (MQM) request for recounts in all of Karachi's NA-250, instead only holding fresh elections in 43 polling stations of the constituency, which will be guarded by security forces on both the inside and the outside of polling stations. In response, the MQM is holding emergency meetings to decide their next course of action.[2]

• According to PTI Vice President Asad Umar, Imran Khan is recovering very quickly and will likely be walking in two to three days and discharged from the hospital in under two weeks.[3]

• Votes will be recounted or re-run for eight national assembly seats, according to ECP official Khurshid Alam on Thursday. Three other constituencies have yet to hold a first vote because of candidates being murdered or poor security in the area.[4]

• During a meeting on Thursday with independent members of parliament, Nawaz Sharif reportedly expressed that corruption will not be tolerated and those found guilty will be brought to book. He also promised that his party manifesto would be implemented in letter and spirit. He will bring democratization and prosperity, and built good relations with the rest of the world, he claims.[5]

• During a meeting on Thursday with the Chief Election Commissioner, Chief of Army Staff General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani reportedly said that he hopes the incoming Parliament will serve the nation, and that the Army respects the country's elected institutions. Kayani also expressed the Army's readiness to support fair, free, and transparent re-elections that are to take place, such as in Karachi.[6]

• Awami National Party (ANP) leader Asfandyar Wali announced that his party will sit in opposition in both the National Assembly and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa provincial assembly. He “saluted” ANP candidates for participating in elections despite the threat of violence, condemned the violence that “snatched his mandate”, and expressed hopes that parties would respect each other's mandates.[7]

• The details of a coalition agenda between the PTI, JI, and Qaumi Watan Party (QWP) for Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa's regional government have reportedly been worked out as of Thursday, with all member party's demands taken into consideration. The next step will be conducting local bodies elections.[8]

• On Thursday, PML-N's Shabaz Sharif extended an invitation to Maulana Fazlur Rehman of the Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) to join the ruling coalitions in the National Assembly and Balochistan provincial assembly. Rehman will reportedly consult with his party's leadership regarding the offer.[9]

• On Friday, Raja Pervez Ashraf appeared before the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) and submitted a written statement over the Rental Power Projects (RPP) case. He was also reportedly interrogated for thirty minutes in connection with the same case.[10]

Militancy

• Fifteen people were killed and over 100 wounded in two blasts at separate mosques in Bazdara area, Malakand division, when people were leaving the mosques after prayers on Friday. The bombs were detonated by remote control. A curfew is now imposed in the area.[11]

• The driver of a truck carrying NATO supplies through northwest Pakistan was killed on Thursday by gunmen who fired at the truck from a motorcycle.[12]

• On Friday, security forces arrested Wazir Gul, thought to be the head of the interprovincial kidnapping ring responsible for the abduction of Ali Haider Gilani, the son of former Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani. The hunt for Gilani is ongoing in Nowshera and Charsadda districts.[13]

• In Kabal sub-district, Swat on Thursday, gunmen opened fire on the car of the peace body head, killing both him and his guard.[14]

• Several explosions in an arms market in Mir Ali sub-district of North Waziristan killed four people and wounded seven more on Thursday.[15]

• Former mayor from the Jamaat-e-Islami (JI), Muhammed Abid Ilyas, was shot down in Nazimabad area of Karachi on Thursday night. JI leader Muhammed Hussain Mehanti alleged that the killing was in connection to ongoing protests against poll rigging.[16]

• Five security personnel were killed and six injured in an attack by militants on an Engineers Battalion vehicle near Sara Khawera area in Mattani, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa near Peshawar. The convoy was attacked with rockets followed by gunfire.[17] [no day mentioned]

Pakistan-Iran Relations

• One hundred thousand tons of wheat will be sent to Iran from Pakistan in exchange for an adjustment of the $53 million in dues Pakistan owes Iran for electricity imported to Balochistan. The exchange was approved by the cabinet on Friday.[18]

Indo-Pak Relations

• As a goodwill gesture to India, on Friday caretaker Prime Minister Mir Hazar Khan Khoso ordered the release of 51 Indian fishermen who had already completed their sentences, expressing the hope that India would reciprocate the gesture.[19]