Pakistan Security Brief

TTP leader says he does not favor preconditions on peace dialogue; Army chief says Pakistan Army supports dialogue; Army chief says that force should be last resort in dealing with the TTP; Indian and Pakistani DGMOs to meet by the end of October; Indian and Pakistan troops exchange fire in Nakial sector of Kashmir; U.S. agrees to give $322 million to Pakistan; Pakistani intelligence sources claim Afghanistan is supporting terrorism in Balochistan; India and U.S. agree to prevent funding for Pakistan-linked terrorist groups; British man of Pakistani origin arrested in London for alleged terror plot; Security officials raid al Qaeda workshop in Islamabad; Ansarul Mujhaideen claim responsibility for Friday’s attack in South Waziristan; 11 people injured during attack on security convoy in Quetta; Saeed says that India and U.S. trying to stop Balochistan relief efforts; Journalist killed in Karak district; One killed and five injured in Karachi blast; Musharraf files for bail in Lal Masjid case.

Talks with the TTP

• Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) leader Hakimullah Mehsud announced on Monday that he opposed setting preconditions for dialogue between the government of Pakistan and the TTP.  He added that the TTP would not acquiesce to a ceasefire without the cessation of U.S. drone strikes in the tribal regions.[1]

• According to a report in The News on Saturday, the recent capture of TTP leader Latifullah Mehsud in Afghanistan could jeopardize dialogue between the organization and the government of Pakistan.[2]

• Army chief Gen. Ashfaq Kayani told cadets at the Pakistan Military Academy in Kakul that the army will support government efforts at peace talks with the TTP, but that it has the ability to revert to a military solution if need be. He added that this should be the last resort.[3]

India-Pakistan Relations

• The Prime Minister’s Adviser on Foreign Affairs and National Security, Sartaj Aziz announced on Friday that the Indian and Pakistani Directors General of Military Operations (DGMOs) will meet by the end of October to begin resolution of ceasefire violations across the Line of Control.[4]

• On Tuesday, Pakistani and Indian forces exchanged fire across the Line of Control (LoC) in the Nakial sector.[5]

• Indian External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid told the press on Saturday that India and Pakistan are not yet prepared to resume dialogue.  He cited recent LoC violations as contributing to the delay in the normalization of relations.[6]

• On Monday, the Indian government lodged a formal complaint with the Pakistani envoy to the Ministry of External Affairs regarding Pakistani security forces allegedly shooting at a boat of Indian fishermen off the coast of Gujarat on Sunday.[7] 

U.S.-Pakistan Relations

• On Sunday, Finance Minister Ishaq Dar announced that the United States has agreed to give Pakistan $322 million from the Coalition Support Fund and the U.S. Overseas Private Investment Corporation will increase its support for Pakistan from $500 million to $1.5 billion.[8]

• On Monday, U.S. special envoy James Dobbins and Advisor to the Prime Minister on National Security and Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz met in Islamabad to discuss Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s upcoming visit to Washington.[9]

Afghanistan-Pakistan Relations

• According to a Sunday report in the Frontier Post, unnamed Pakistani intelligence sources have revealed that unspecified Afghan secret agencies are inciting violence in Balochistan through terrorism or the support of Baloch secessionists.  Several unnamed terrorism suspects allegedly confessed to conducting terrorist attacks on security personnel in Chaman earlier this year with support from Afghan Inspector General of Police Abdul Razzaq.[10]

• Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman claimed on Monday that Afghan President Hamid Karzai has agreed to release all Pakistani citizens imprisoned in Afghanistan and is interested in cooperating with the Taliban after foreign troops withdraw from Afghanistan.  On Saturday, the Afghan High Peace Council requested Rehman’s assistance in persuading the Taliban to negotiate. These developments follow his recent visit to Afghanistan at the invitation of Afghan President Hamid Karzai.[11]

Militancy

• On Sunday, the United States and India reached an agreement to limit financing of extremist groups in Pakistan, including the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and its political wing, the Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD), as well as the Haqqani Network.[12]

• On Sunday, British police arrested four men in an alleged terror plot in London. One of the four is a British national reportedly of Pakistani origin. The planned attack was reportedly a shooting spree, but police say that the attack was not imminent.[13]

• Security and intelligence officials raided a workshop in Islamabad, disrupting a year-long plot by alleged al Qaeda members to build remote-controlled aircraft capable of carrying explosives for attack purposes.  A Saturday article in The News says the plot was part of al Qaeda’s attempt to develop “drone technology.”  The workshop was in the home of Professor Irtyaz Gilani, an electronics engineering and aerial weapons specialist who has been linked to the August 2012 attack on Minhas Airbase of the Pakistan Air Force in Kamra.   Official reports conflict about whether Gilani was captured during the raid.[14]

• According to a Saturday report in the Express Tribune, Ansarul Mujhaideen spokesman Abu Bassir claimed responsibility for Friday’s attack on a military convoy in Wana, South Waziristan.  Bassir said the attack was retribution for Haqqani network commander Sangin Zadran’s death in a drone attack.  Political agents of South Waziristan have demanded that the Ahmedzai Wazir tribe punish the attackers or transfer them to government custody.  Ahmedzai tribal leaders have expressed a willingness to cooperate with the authorities.[15]

• Unidentified assailants injured eleven people, including five security officials, on Tuesday in a grenade attack on a Balochistan Constabulary convoy along Mastung Road, Quetta.[16]

• On Tuesday, the Balochistan provincial government entrusted the Frontier Corps with police powers.  These special authorities will remain in effect until November 16.[17]

• On Friday, Peshawar Corps Commander Lieutenant-General Khalid Rabbani met with Frontier Corps Inspector General Ghayur Ahmad to visit border checkpoints and villages in Ghalanai, Mohmand agency.  Rabbani also met with local officials to discuss regional security issues.[18]

• On Tuesday, a Bomb Disposal Squad defused three bombs outside a mosque in Ahsanabad, Karachi.[19]

• The body of a gunshot victim was recovered from the Lyari neighborhood of Karachi on Monday.  In a separate incident, the corpse of a torture victim was found in Sukhan.[20]

• On Monday, Rangers detained 14 criminal suspects in operations throughout Karachi.[21]

• Rangers detained 18 suspects from the Ijtama Gah and Manghopir areas of Karachi on Sunday.[22]

• On Sunday, an explosion killed one man and wounded two others in Kot Hakeem, Tank district, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province.[23]

• Unidentified gunmen killed two men on Sunday in the Sangarh area of Hangu, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province.[24]

• Police detained two target killers in the Bazidkhel area of Kohat, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province on Saturday.  The suspects allegedly fled Karachi.[25]

• On Sunday, the body of a kidnap victim was recovered in the Ajabtalab area of Bara sub-district, Khyber agency.[26]

• An explosion on Saturday wounded two children in Teri Mangal village, Kurram agency.[27]

• According to a Saturday report in the Express Tribune, TTP spokesman Shahidullah Shahid claims his organization is “delighted” that Malala Yousafzai did not win the Nobel Peace Prize because she is secular and fighting against Islam.[28]

• After an agreement between India and the United States to prevent funding of extremist groups, Hafiz Mohammad Saeed, the head of the JuD and founder of the LeT, claimed on Monday that the two countries are conspiring to stop relief activities in Balochistan.[29]

• On Saturday, Ayub Khattak, a journalist, was shot to death by unknown attackers in Takht Nusrati, Karak district, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa.[30]

• One person was killed and five others injured on Sunday in an explosion in Landhi Muzaffarabad Colony, Quaidabad, Karachi. Police report that extortion may have been the motive for the attack.[31]

Domestic

• On Tuesday, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif met with senior officials, including army chief Gen.  Ashfaq Kayani, Director General of Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) Lt. General Zahirul Islam, Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, and the Prime Minister’s Adviser on National Security and Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz, in Islamabad to discuss national security matters, dialogue with the TTP, and the Prime Minister’s pending visit to the United States.[32]

• On Friday, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif said in a meeting with his appointee for Foreign Secretary, Abdul Basit, that Basit should pursue closer ties with India and Afghanistan. He asked Basit to employ “peace diplomacy” to help restart talks with India.[33]

• On Monday, an Islamabad court summoned former President Asif Ali Zardari for an October 29 hearing on the five corruption-related references against him that were re-opened last week.[34]

• On Saturday, former President Pervez Musharraf filed for bail in a new case related to the death of a cleric in the 2007 Lal Masjid incident. Musharraf was arrested on Thursday.[35]