Pakistan Security Brief

U.S. drone strike kills five, including top commander; U.S. lauds Pakistan’s response in helicopter incident; Clinton likely to face heat before House committee; Pakistani military denies documentary’s evidence; Musharraf announces possible requirement of ISI “countermeasures”; Zardari headed to tri-country summit; Pakistan and China to hold joint military exercises; Five TTP militants arrested in Karachi search operation; Pakistan to detain LeJ founder additional 60 days; Pakistan launches offensive against LI in Khyber; Khyber security operation continues; Pro-government elder killed in missile attack; Orakzai blast kills four; Roadside blast kills two soldiers in South Waziristan; Pro-government elder and host murdered, Taliban claims responsibility; Explosion in Peshawar’s Rampura market injures 13.

Drone Strike

• A U.S. drone strike in South Waziristan killed five militants and wounded three others on Thursday. One of the militants, Khan Mohammed, was a deputy to Maulvi Nazir, a key Pakistani Taliban leader. Nazir’s cousin and younger brother were also killed in the attack. According to the New York Times, Nazir is one of the more powerful militant commanders in the region and maintains ties with the Taliban, al Qaeda, and Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) to orchestrate attacks against foreign troops in Afghanistan.[1]

U.S.-Pakistan Relations

• The U.S. commended Pakistani authorities for their calm resolution of a potential crisis when an Indian military helicopter violated Pakistani airspace.  U.S. State Department spokesperson Victoria Nuland assessed the situation saying, “My understanding is this was actually, as these things go, a relatively good news story, that as a result of the increased dialogue between India and Pakistan and the fact that they have reestablished some hotlines and emergency procedures, they were able to speak directly, thereby avoiding an incident.”[2]

• U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will appear before the House Foreign Affairs Committee on Thursday, and will be questioned by members of Congress still fuming about recent remarks by Afghan President Hamid Karzai saying that Afghanistan would back Pakistan in the event of a war with the U.S.[3]

• The Pakistani military denied evidence presented in the BBC documentary “Secret Pakistan” which alleged that the Pakistani military and ISI equipped and protected the Afghan Taliban and al Qaeda. The documentary series, which started Wednesday, presented former and current Taliban leaders detailing the vital role Pakistan had played in providing them with supplies and support. Pakistani military spokesman Athar Abbas responded saying, “We consider that this report is highly biased, it is one-sided, it doesn’t have the version of the side which is badly hit or affected by this report.”[4]

Afghanistan-Pakistan Relations

• Former Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf announced on Wednesday that his country’s intelligence apparatus would have to take “countermeasures” if Afghanistan became unstable following the withdrawal of U.S. troops. Musharraf cited fears that a power vacuum in Afghanistan would favor India as justification for future ISI efforts to secure Pakistan’s interests in the region.[5]

• Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari will meet with Afghan President Hamid Karzai and Turkish President Abullah Gul in Istanbul on Saturday. The tri-country summit will discuss the process for establishing security and stability in Afghanistan following the withdrawal of foreign troops in 2014.[6]

Pakistan-China Relations

• Pakistan and China will hold a two-week joint military exercise “YOUYI-IV” in China in mid-November. The exercise will concentrate on Low Intensity Conflict Operations (LIC) with the aim of sharing expertise on military counterterrorism strategies.  The exercise highlights the close military relations between the two countries as the Pakistan Army is the first foreign army to engage in exercises on Chinese territory.[7]

Karachi

• Mullah Usman Ghani, a Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) commander, and four other TTP militants were arrested in a search operation in Karachi late Wednesday night. The search operation, conducted jointly by the police and Frontier Corps (FC), also arrested 16 other suspects.[8]

Sectarian Violence

• On Wednesday, Pakistan extended the detention of Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ) founder Malik Ishaq for an additional 60 days “in the interest of public order and to preempt any sectarian strife.” LeJ is regarded by many as the “most extreme terror group” in Pakistan and has been responsible for “killing hundreds of Shia Muslims” in the past two decades.[9]

FATA

• The Pakistani military has re-launched an offensive against Islamist militants in Khyber agency focusing on the militant group, Lashkar-e-Islam (LI). LI is led by former bus driver turned militant, Mangal Bagh, who has imposed strict Sharia law within the agency. One Khyber resident describing LI’s violent methods said, "If they think you gamble or drink, they just execute you in a public square and everyone has to watch … They announce it in mosques." LI has also reportedly forcibly conscripted male tribesmen as fighters and demanded money and food as tribute.[10]

• In the fifth day of the security operation in Khyber agency, three LI militants and three tribesmen were killed in encounters between LI militants and tribal militias or lashkars. In one incident, LI militants assaulted a security checkpoint; two LI militants and two tribesmen from the lashkar were killed in the attack. In a separate clash, one tribesman and one LI militant were killed in Daro Adda.[11]

• Malak Rahmat Jan, a pro-government tribal elder, was killed in Bajaur agency when a missile attack launched by militants across the Afghan border targeted his home.[12]

• Four people killed and two were wounded in an explosion in Upper Orakzai on Wednesday.[13]

• Two soldiers were killed in South Waziristan when their vehicle struck a roadside bomb on Thursday. In a separate incident, two police officers were injured in a marketplace explosion in Khyber agency.[14]

Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa

• A pro-government tribal elder and his host were killed in their sleep by an unknown gunman in Tank district. Taliban spokesman Maulvi Farhad claimed responsibility for the attack.[15]

• One day after a bombing in Peshawar’s Shah Afzal Market left 12 wounded, a second blast struck Peshawar’s Rampura market.  The explosion left 13 people injured, two of whom are currently in critical care.[16]