Pakistan Security Brief

TTP militant commander threatens peace agreement; Wazir tribesmen protest in Miram Shah; Security forces impose curfew in North Waziristan; Militant activity in FATA; Five Uzbek militants killed in security forces operation; KP Governor calls for foreign investment in FATA; CENTCOM Commander meets with Kayani; Republicans blast Pakistan at Presidential Debate; Pakistan and China participate in “war games,” Pakistan markets new fighter jet; Pakistan to purchase nuclear power plants from Chinese company; Pakistan and India continue to discuss trade normalization; India claims sufficient evidence to charge Mumbai attack suspects; India expresses “shock” over revelation of Pakistanis being held in Indian jails; Five bodies found in KP province; Anti-terrorism court adjourns hearing; Swat Taliban to target those who testify against it; Pakistan Air Force jet crashes, kills pilot; IED kills woman and child in Dera Mura Jamali; TTP labels Imran Khan a “slave” to U.S.; London police arrest Farooq killers; Intelligence officials killed in Jhelum; Pakistan and Turkmenistan agree to expedite TAPI pipeline; Pakistan meets IMF officials in Dubai; Guardian reports on Chaudhry Aslam Khan, “Pakistan’s toughest cop.”

 FATA

• Taliban Commander Hafiz Gul Bahadur, who is regarded as “the most powerful militant leader in Pakistan’s North Waziristan border region” and an ally of the Haqqani Network, has threatened to scrap his group’s “non-aggression pact” with the Pakistan Army by resuming attacks if Pakistan continues to allow U.S. drone strikes in North Waziristan.  Bahadur also said he was disbanding the jirga, or council, of militants involved in negotiations with the government due to a recent anti-militant military operation in Miram Shah that caused large amounts of collateral damage.  Meanwhile, the Los Angeles Times reports on the implications of Pakistan conducting peace negotiations with the Pakistani Taliban as Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) commander Hakimullah Mehsud delivered an Eid-ul-Azha message warning the government that TTP was preparing to launch “well-orchestrated attacks” against it.[1]

• On Thursday, Wazir tribesmen from the Atmanzai clan protested in Miram Shah, North Waziristan, calling for an end to U.S. drone strikes in the region.  The tribesmen “denied [the] presence of the Haqqani Network” in North Waziristan and “demanded that North and South Waziristan…be given the status of a province.”[2]

• Security forces imposed an indefinite curfew on parts of North Waziristan on Sunday, blocking the main road between Miram Shah and Bannu district after militants used improvised explosive devices (IEDs) to attack a security forces convoy in the area.[3]

• Six civilians, including a woman and two children, were killed by a mortar meant for a Zakhakhel Peace Lashkar, or militia, checkpoint in Tirah Valley, Khyber agency, on Saturday.  Four other people were injured in the attack.  Another six people were killed “when a driverless donkey cart, laden with explosives, ran into a market area of Tirah valley.”  Eight people were injured in the attack, which has not been claimed by any militant group.  Meanwhile, Lashkar-e-Islam (LI) militants attacked a Frontier Corps (FC) checkpoint, resulting in a firefight that killed six militants and wounded another ten, while security forces bombed the houses of two LI commanders and arrested three LI militants during an operation against the militant group in Bara sub-district.[4]

• Five Uzbek terrorists were reportedly killed during an operation by security forces in North Waziristan on Thursday.[5]

• On Sunday, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Governor Barrister Masood Kausar called on “overseas Pakistani philanthropists” to invest in development projects in the FATA.[6]

U.S.-Pakistan Relations

• On Friday, U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) Commander General James Mattis met with Pakistan’s Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani in Islamabad in a “continuation of diplomatic contact” between the U.S. and Pakistan.  Both Mattis and Kayani reportedly agreed “to increase cooperation to curtail cross-border movement of terrorists on the [Afghanistan-Pakistan] border” and to renew intelligence cooperation efforts.  Meanwhile, the Washington Post reports on suspected “Pakistani complicity with the insurgents” along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border.[7]

• Republican Presidential candidates blasted U.S. ally Pakistan at the Republican Presidential Debate on Saturday.  Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney stated that Pakistan was “close to being a failed state,” while Texas Governor Rick Perry said that Pakistan didn’t deserve U.S. aid when asked whether or not Pakistan had been “playing a double game with Washington."[8]

Pakistan-China Relations

• A joint military exercise between Pakistan and China commenced in Punjab province on Monday. These war games are the fourth between Pakistan and China since 2004 and exemplify a Pakistan-China relationship that is “higher than the mountains and deeper than oceans,” according to the Pakistan Army.  Meanwhile, while attending the Dubai Air Show, Pakistan’s Defense Minister, Chaudhry Ahmed Mukhtar, marketed the “new JF17 Thunder fighter jet” which Pakistan “developed jointly with China.” The jet will target emerging markets in both Africa and Asia and will be priced between $25 and $30 million, roughly a third of the price of an F-16.[9]

• The China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC) and Pakistan’s Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC) are expected to reach an agreement in which Pakistan will purchase two nuclear power plants from CNNC, as part of Pakistan’s effort to overcome its energy crisis.[10]

Pakistan-India Relations

• Commerce officials from Pakistan and India are set to meet in New Delhi on Monday and Tuesday to discuss trade normalization and the prospect of doubling annual bilateral trade to $6 billion by 2014. Meanwhile, Pakistan took steps toward opening trade with India by removing import restrictions from a number of Indian goods on Friday.[11]

• On Friday, Indian Foreign Secretary Ranjan Mathai dispelled claims made by Pakistan’s Interior Minister Rehman Malik that there was insufficient evidence to prosecute the militants involved in the 2008 Mumbai attacks, including Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) chief Hafiz Muhammad Saeed.[12]

• On Friday, India’s Supreme Court conveyed its “shock” after hearing a public interest case which revealed that “over 254 Pakistani nationals are languishing in [Jammu and Kashmir] jails without a trial.” Consequently, the Supreme Court ordered the Indian government to “file a comprehensive report explaining the detentions.”[13]

Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa

• The bodies of two poisoned men were discovered in duffle bags in Peshawar on Thursday, while the bodies of three women bearing signs of torture were discovered in Swabi.  The identities of the victims remain unknown, according to local officials.  Meanwhile, militants blew up three government-run schools in Swabi, Nowshera, and Bannu, respectively.[14]

• On Monday, an Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) postponed the hearing of Maulvi Sufi Muhammad, Tehrik-e-Nifaz-e-Shariat-e-Mohammadi (TNSM) chief, for his suspected involvement in an “attack on a police station in Kabal, Swat.”[15]

• On Sunday, Swat Taliban spokesman and commander, Sirajuddin Ahmad, said that the Swat Taliban would begin targeting any political leaders, civilians, government employees, or military personnel that testified “against Taliban fighters arrested in Swat during the 2009 military operation.”[16] 

• A Pakistan Air Force pilot was killed when his fighter jet crashed near Attock on Monday.  The crash was reportedly the result of technical failure.[17]

Balochistan

• A remote-controlled improvised explosive device (IED) targeting local police killed a woman and child in Dera Murad Jamali on Saturday. No police officers were killed in the attack.[18]

Pakistani Politics

• Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) spokesman Ehsanullah Ehsan labeled Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Imran Khan a “slave of the U.S. and Europe” because he is not religious and does not speak Urdu. Previously, Khan had called Pakistani leaders “slaves of the U.S.”  Meanwhile, former Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi revealed that he would join Khan’s PTI on November 27 amid speculation that he was gearing toward Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) membership.[19]

• London police confirmed Monday that two “alleged killers of Muttahida Qaumi Movement’s (MQM) leader Dr. Imran Farooq” had been arrested at the Karachi airport over two months ago.  MQM leaders countered the report, calling it “devoid of truth, baseless and concocted.”[20]

Punjab

• Four Pakistan Army intelligence officials and an informant were killed on Friday during a Military Intelligence raid on a suspected terrorist hideout in Jhelum, according to Pakistani security officials.  The BBC, however,  reports that the intelligence officials were kidnapped and killed by militants who discovered their identities. At least three suspects have been arrested in connection to the Friday killings.[21]

Energy

• On Monday, President Asif Ali Zardari and Turkmenistan President Gurbanguly Berdymuhammedov agreed to accelerate energy cooperation projects, such as the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) pipeline, and trade between Pakistan and Turkmenistan.  The TAPI pipeline is expected to “provide energy security” and “economic stability” to the region.  Meanwhile, Pakistan’s Federal Minister for Petroleum and Natural Resources, Dr. Asim Hussain, noted that Russia had recently expressed “keen interest” in assisting Pakistan with its portion of the Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline.[22]

IMF

• Pakistani officials met with International Monetary Fund (IMF) officials in Dubai over the weekend for a “round of technical talks” to discuss Pakistan’s economy.[23]

Police

• On Thursday, The Guardian reported on Senior Superintendent Police (SSP) Crime Investigation Department (CID) Chief Chaudhry Aslam Khan, “Pakistan’s toughest cop.”  Khan was targeted in a September suicide bombing at his home and has been called the “Karachi version of Dirty Harry” for his vow to “bury” his Taliban attackers.[24]