Pakistan Security Brief

CIA urges White House for more drones; Raids in Tirah Valley kill five militants and two civilians; Report to the UN reveals Pakistan most deadly place for journalists; Girls school blown up in Nowshera; IED kills three and injures ten near Quetta; Two heads found hanging in Peshawar; One killed and one injured in Lahore shooting; Supreme Court rules that Military Intelligence should stop interfering in politics; Frontier Constabulary coming under pressure in terror fight; PPP Senator calls for Supreme Court Chief Justice to step down; Chief Minister’s son-in-law arrested for authorizing assault; Pakistan and Serbia discuss defense cooperation; Afghan Pres. Karzai writes letter to MQM chief urging cooperation against extremism; Five people killed in Karachi; Malala able to stand up after coming out of her coma.

U.S. Drone Campaign

• According to a report by the Washington Post, the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) is urging the White House to let it expand its drone inventory. It is reportedly asking to get ten more drones, adding to its inventory of 30 to 35 drones already. The request comes at a time when terrorist activities are increasing in North Africa and Yemen. The increase in drones will also help “bolster the agency’s ability to sustain its campaigns of lethal strikes in Pakistan.”[i]

Militancy

• A paramilitary official said that a raid conducted on Friday in the Akka Khel area of the Tirah Valley, Khyber agency with jets and helicopter gunships killed five militants and two civilians. At 7:00 am jets bombed Lashkar-e-Islam (LI) hideouts, killing two civilians and injuring seven people, some of whom were LI militants. After the first strike, helicopter gunships shelled Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) hideouts, destroying two of the hideouts, killing five militants, and injuring several others.[ii]

• A recent report prepared for the UN Human Rights Council by various Non-Governmental Organizations has revealed that in the past four and a half years, Pakistan has been the most deadly place for journalists. A total of 49 journalists were killed in Pakistan during the period. The report will be discussed at a UN Human Rights Council session in Geneva on October 30.[iii]

• Unknown militants blew up a government girls primary school in Sher Khan Korona Marhathi, Nowshera on Thursday. Police said there was no loss of life. This incident has raised the number of schools destroyed this year to 18.[iv]

• A bomb planted on a motorcycle in Musa Colony near Quetta, Balochistan killed three people and injured ten on Friday. Police believe a Frontier Corps (FC) vehicle passing by was the target. Three security officials were killed and four injured.[v]

• The heads of an FC soldier and a senior police officer were found in Matani, Peshawar on Thursday. The militants allegedly killed the two men on Sunday night “during an attack on Ghaziabad police post.” The heads were packed in a bag and were hanging at “the veranda of a market.”[vi]

• Unknown gunmen opened fire on a senior lawyer and his associate in Lahore on Friday. The lawyer and his associate were on their way to court when unidentified assailants stopped them near Jain Mandir.  They pulled the lawyer out of the car and killed him. His associate was injured in the attack.[vii]

Domestic Politics

• The Supreme Court of Pakistan ruled on Friday that the military “should stop interfering in politics.” Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry took a strong stand against Military Intelligence, implying that the organization should stay away from political parties and politicians. The ruling stated that any political cell in the Presidency created by the intelligence community should be abolished immediately. Referring to the accused, the ruling also stated, “Their acts have brought a bad name to Pakistan and its armed forces as well as secret agencies.”[viii]

• In a Senate Standing Committee on the Interior on Thursday officials of the Frontier Constabulary forces warned that due to a lack of funding, the constabulary’s low morale may force them into “giving up the fight.” The 26,172 strong force in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa only has 42 heavy machine guns, and since 2010 has “not been able to buy a single gun due to a lack of funding.” The FC officials emphasized that the lack of funding has made the fight against militancy extremely difficult. Police/security personnel are allocated three times the amount of money that constabulary personnel are.[ix]

• Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Senator Faisal Raza Abidi declared on Thursday that Supreme Court Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry ought to resign for abusing his power. He claimed that Chaudhry was using Supreme Court power to further his own family’s ends and accused him of violating the Constitution. Abidi also accused Chaudhry’s son Arsalan Iftikhar of “financial impropriety.” The PPP has disassociated itself from Abidi’s remarks.[x]

• Pakistan Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif’s son-in-law Imran Yousaf was yesterday taken into custody for 14 days following accusations of assaulting a security guard at a Lahore bakery. Yousaf supposedly authorized eight men to attack the security guard when the guard would not let Yousaf’s wife in after closing time to buy a cake. Yousaf denies all charges.[xi]

Pakistan-Afghanistan Relations

• On Thursday, the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) confirmed that Afghan President Hamid Karzai sent MQM leader Altaf Hussain a letter in which he said that “we must ask why we have been unable to counter terrorism that is attacking our religion, our people and the promise of a better future for our children.” The letter also expressed Karzai’s desire to work with Hussain in responding in a “coordinated and collaborative action” to combat extremism.[xii]

• Hamid Karzai said on Thursday in a joint press conference with visiting NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen, that he hoped the attack on Malala Yousafzai showed the Pakistan government that their terrorism strategy has a negative influence on Pakistanis too. He hoped that Islamabad would learn from this incident that “using extremism as a tool against others was not in its own interests.”[xiii]

Serbian-Pakistani Relations

• Pakistan’s Federal Minister of Defence Syed Naveed Qamar met with top leaders in Serbia’s House of Guards on Thursday. This meeting is part of a four-day visit to Serbia in which Pakistani and Serbian officials will discuss how to improve cooperation and collaboration between both countries’ defense establishments. Qamar also spoke of opening a Serbian Embassy in Islamabad and establishing a Preferential Trade Agreement. Serbia and Pakistan are also set to sign a Memorandum of Understanding next month pertaining to diversifying Pakistan’s defense purchases from Serbia.[xiv]

Karachi Violence

• Two people were killed in shooting incidents in Karachi on Friday. Unidentified men shot and killed one person in Bilal Colony Korangi and one person in Nasir Colony. In a separate incident, Ferozabad and Mobina Town police arrested four bandits who were injured in a gun battle.[xv]

• Three students at the Madrassah Darul Khair were shot and killed by unknown assailants in Karachi on Friday. The students were just making their way back “from a protest against target killings.”[xvi]

Malala Yousafzai            

• Doctors at Malala Yousafzai’s hospital in Britain said on Friday that she is out of her coma and has stood up with help for her first time since being shot. Although she is unable to speak yet, she is “communicating by writing notes.” The doctors warned however that she still shows signs of infection, and that they will have to deal with that before she is out of the woods.[xvii]