Pakistan Security Brief

U.S. and Pakistan offer conflicting accounts of Saturday’s NATO raid, diffuse another potential crisis; Pakistan demands respect in U.S.-Pakistan relationship; Christian Science Monitor reports on U.S. and NATO use of Pakistani supply routes; International community reaches out to Pakistan to attend Bonn Conference; Security forces kill 12 militants in Kurram agency; Bomb in South Waziristan kills two; Court announces shift of 700 terror suspects to internment camps; Leader of peace committee killed in car bombing; “Would-be suicide bomber” dies in explosion; University professor targeted in sectarian violence; Pakistani cable companies block BBC.

U.S.-Pakistan Relations

• On Tuesday, AP reported on preliminary military accounts of Saturday’s deadly NATO raid in Pakistan, noting that “NATO and Pakistani forces may have attacked one another in a tragic case of mistaken identity — each thinking the other side was [the] Taliban.” Similarly, the Taliban may have “deliberately lured NATO forces to attack the Pakistanis” to spark a crisis between the U.S. and Pakistan, a scenario which was “strongly denied” by a senior Afghan Taliban commander.  According to the U.S., “a joint U.S. and Afghan patrol requested backup after being hit by mortar and small arms fire by Taliban militants.”  Before returning fire, the U.S. reportedly contacted the Pakistan Army, which confirmed that no Pakistan Army troops were in the area, and Pakistan maintained that it only fired upon U.S. troops after observing “suspicious activity” near the border.  Pakistan Army Director General of Military Operations (DG MO) Major General Ashfaq Nadeem condemned the NATO attack, suggesting that the attack was unprovoked, the details surrounding the incident were “inaccurate and incomplete,” and that NATO forces had violated all Standard Operation Procedures (SOPs) during the raid.  Meanwhile, the Pakistan Army’s Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR) wing released video footage of the NATO attack on Wednesday.  Afghan officials “expressed little remorse” for the incident, which was the “deadliest among allies in the decade-long” war on terror, and blamed Pakistan for “exaggerating the gravity of the situation to deflect attention from its own meddling in Afghanistan.”  On Wednesday morning, NATO and Pakistani troops averted another international crisis, defusing a “cross-border incident” involving heavy artillery fire.  No injuries were reported.[1]

• In the wake of Saturday’s NATO attack, Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar emphasized that “Pakistan required respect and not aid” and said that Pakistan was currently considering the future of U.S.-Pakistan relations.  Meanwhile, a senior Pentagon advisor, Anthony Cordesman, said that U.S.-Pakistan relations would likely be mended by a joint U.S. and NATO “apology, a bribe in the form of better aid flows, and some kind of façade about better liaison.” Since the attack, the U.S. has “scrambled diplomatically…to repair the damage caused by a NATO air assault,” and continues to reach out to Pakistan as it investigates the incident.  Strained U.S.-Pakistan relations have also led to Pakistani calls for the eviction of U.S. operators from the Shamsi Airbase in Balochistan by December 11. The U.S. is reportedly preparing to comply with the demand, although the U.S. claims it has been bracing for a “possible eviction” for months and will still be capable of launching drone strikes in Afghanistan and Pakistan.[2]

• Christian Science Monitor reports on the U.S. and NATO use of Pakistani supply routes to provide goods troops in Afghanistan, pointing out that the U.S. had made efforts toward shifting its supply routes north before Saturday’s NATO raid.  Earlier, the U.S. military had projected that over 75 percent of its supplies would be delivered through the Northern Distribution Network by the end of 2011, while NATO still relies heavily on Pakistani supply routes which its uses to deliver 60 percent of its supplies  to Afghanistan.[3]

Bonn Conference Boycott

• U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and German Chancellor Angela Merkel expressed regret over Pakistan’s decision to boycott next week’s Bonn Conference on the future of Afghanistan, which will be hosted in Bonn, Germany, and Merkel suggested that there was still time for Pakistan to reverse its decision.  Similarly, State Department spokesman Mark Toner communicated that it was in “Pakistan’s interest” not to forgo the conference.  Later, Afghan President Hamid Karzai contacted Pakistan’s Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani on Tuesday, urging Pakistan to “reconsider the boycott,” as Pakistan’s attendance has been considered “very important” in the resolution of regional conflict pending the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan in 2014. Pakistan’s Information Minister Dr. Firdous Ashiq Awan pointed to Pakistan’s boycott decision as a “turning point in foreign policy” that would “make the international community realize that Pakistan had played a pivotal role for durable peace and stability in the region,” while Prime Minister Gilani noted that “a country whose own sovereignty and territorial integrity were violated from the Afghan soil” could not “play a constructive role” in the future of Afghanistan.  The Bonn Conference will be attended by over 100 countries and will begin on December 5.[4]

FATA

• On Wednesday, security forces clashed with militants in Masozai area, Kurram agency, during a security forces offensive, killing 12 militants.  Seven troops were also wounded.[5]

• A bomb targeting a funeral procession in South Waziristan agency killed two people and injured three others on Tuesday.  No militant group has claimed responsibility for the attack.[6]

• On Tuesday, the Peshawar High Court (PHC) announced that 700 “missing persons” and “terror suspects” had been shifted to “internment centers” according to new regulations put into place in the FATA, and noted that nearly 6,000 more suspects were still waiting to be transferred to “government notified” centers.[7]

Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa

• An “anti-Taliban tribal leader” was killed in a car bombing in Hangu district on Wednesday.  Two other committee members were injured in the attack, which has not been claimed by any militant group.[8]

Balochistan

• On Tuesday, a “would-be suicide bomber” died when his explosives “detonated prematurely.”  The bomber was reportedly heading toward the town of Chaman when the accident occurred.[9]

• A University of Balochistan professor was shot and killed in Quetta on Tuesday, in what appeared to be an act of “sectarian target killing.”  The professor was the fifth to be killed since 2008.[10]

BBC Blocked

• On Tuesday, Pakistani cable companies began blocking access to BBC World News throughout the country. The cable companies claimed that the ban came in response to the BBC documentary, “Secret Pakistan,” which probed the connections between the Pakistani military and intelligence apparatus and militant groups.  Meanwhile, the All Pakistan Cable Operators Association announced that all foreign media broadcasting “anti-Pakistan content” would be banned.  In response, a BBC spokesman announced, “We condemn any action that threatens our editorial independence and prevents audiences from accessing our impartial international news service."[11]