Pakistan Security Brief
U.S. drone strike kills six militants in Miram Shah; Security forces kill 16 militants in Orakzai; Four FC soldiers killed in Khyber agency, FC kills three militants in Mohmand agency; British police arrest four terrorist suspects for training in Pakistan; Two injured in Gilgit blast; Malik links LeJ to Quetta “target killings”; U.S. grants Pakistani journalist asylum; Security forces arrest eight militants in Kohat district; Qureshi expresses displeasure with Pakistan’s political scene; SHC rules in favor of Haqiqi party leader; Court to drop corruption charges against Sharif.
Drone Strike
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A U.S. drone strike killed at least six militants in a compound in Miram Shah, North Waziristan on Tuesday. According to Pakistani intelligence officials, most of the militants killed in the attack are suspected members of Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).[1]
FATA
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Sixteen militants were killed and another 20 were injured during an offensive by security forces using a combination of ground forces and air support against six “militant hideouts” in upper Orakzai agency on Tuesday. Security officials vowed to continue operations until peace has been restored to the region.[2]
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Four Frontier Corps (FC) soldiers were killed during a militant attack on a FC convoy in Bara sub-district, Khyber agency on Monday. Later, FC and Khasadar Force soldiers killed three militants and injured another four as they crossed into Baizai sub-district, Mohmand agency on Monday night.[3]
Terrorism
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On Tuesday, British police arrested four men in Birmingham as part of a larger counterterrorism investigation launched in September. The men were held under counterterrorism laws and stand accused of fundraising for terrorism and receiving terrorist training in Pakistan. According to local police sources, the “arrests were pre-planned and not made in response to any immediate threat to public safety.”[4]
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Two people were injured after a small bomb exploded in a Gilgit marketplace on Monday. Local police have detained three men for their alleged involvement in the explosion.[5]
Balochistan
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On Tuesday, Interior Minister Rehman Malik announced that Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ) was responsible for the recent “target killings” in Quetta. According to Malik, security forces have discovered mobile phones containing data of conversations between imprisoned LeJ militants and their accomplices connected with recent killings. Malik commended security officers for reducing the level of violence in Balochistan and suggested that peace would soon be restored in the province.[6]
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The Washington Post reports that the U.S. has granted Siraj Ahmed Malik, “an ambitious young Pakistani journalist” and activist in Balochistan, political asylum given the dangerous climate faced by journalists and activists in the province. Malik claims his work as an ethnic activist and exposition of military abuses in the province means he would likely be tortured and killed if he returned to Pakistan.[7]
Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa
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Security forces arrested eight suspected militants from an Afghan refugee camp in Kohat district on Sunday night.[8]
Pakistani Politics
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Former Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi resigned from the National Assembly and Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) on Monday, ending his twenty year PPP membership by terming the PPP-led government the “Zardari league.” Qureshi noted that his resignation from the post of Foreign Minister in January was the result of his displeasure at being “forced” to grant CIA contractor Raymond Davis diplomatic immunity. Meanwhile, sources close to Qureshi revealed that he would likely join Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf (PTI) on November 27 amid speculation that he was gearing toward Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) membership.[9]
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On Tuesday, the Sindh High Court (SHC) ruled that Mohajjir Qaumi Movement Haqiqi (MQM-H) leader Afaq Ahmed would not be arrested in connection with a kidnapping case. Following the court proceedings, Ahmed commended Zulfikar Mirza, former Sindh Home Minister, for his efforts to reduce terrorism in Karachi and called on Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) leader Altaf Hussain to return to Pakistan.[10]
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On Tuesday, the Lahore Registry of the Supreme Court moved to dismiss corruption charges taken up against Nawaz Sharif by an anti-corruption court.[11]
