Pakistan Security Brief

U.S. drone strike kills four militants in Wana, South Waziristan; Report alleges TTP networks in Karachi destroyed; Airplane shot at while landing in Peshawar; VBIED kills one and injures 27 in Sibi, Balochistan; Airstrike kills 15 militants in Shawal area, North Waziristan; Six militants die in attack on Frontier Corps checkpoint in Ghundi, Khyber Agency; IED kills at least six, injures eight near Togh Sarai IDP camp; TTP commander arrested in raid in Swat; Five TTP militants killed in Tirah Valley, Khyber Agency; IED detonated at PTI MPA’s house in Mardan, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa; National security adviser admits to “bad timing” of talks with Kashmiri separatist leaders; Pakistani Prime Minister, Indian counterpart spar over Kashmir at U.N. General Assembly; PTI chief conducts rally in Lahore, 100,000 people in attendance; PAT chief to allow Islamabad protestors to return home; Case registered against Prime Minister Sharif and 10 others; Eidak tribe IDPs directed by security forces to shift to Bannu; Ashraf Ghani sworn in as new Afghan President. 

Drone Strike

• On September 28, a U.S. drone strike killed four militants and injured four others in the Karezai Pul area, Wana, South Waziristan. Two of the militants killed believed to have been citizens of Arab nations. The strike occurred at the compound of a Maulvi Nazir Group commander named Ainullah. The Pakistani government condemned the U.S. airstrike.[1]

Militancy

• As reported by The Express Tribune on September 29, Rangers Colonel Tahir Mehmood stated in a report to the Standing Committee on Interior Affairs that security forces have destroyed the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) network in Karachi beyond repair. The report stated that about 5,500 suspects have been arrested in over 3,000 operations and over 4,000 weapons have been seized.[2]

• On September 27, 2014, unidentified attackers opened fire on an airplane landing at Bacha Khan International Airport in Peshawar. No one was injured in the attack.[3]

• On September 27, 2014, unidentified attackers killed one person and injured 27 others in a vehicle-borne improvised explosive device (VBIED) along Chakar road in Sibi, Balochistan. The VBIED was detonated as a Levies Force vehicle passed by.[4]

• On September 28, the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) reported that Pakistani military air strikes killed 15 militants in the Shawal area, North Waziristan.[5]

• On September 28, six militants died in an attack on a Frontier Crops (FC) checkpoint in Ghundi, Khyber Agency. About 30 militants initially attacked the checkpoint, but Frontier Crops personnel repelled the assault.[6]

• On September 28, an improvised explosive device (IED) killed at least six people and injured eight in Muhammad Khawaja Bazaar, near the Togh Sarai Camp for internally displaced persons (IDP), Hangu district.[7]

• On September 27, 2014, police arrested a TTP commander in a raid in the Peochar area of Matta sub-district, Swat, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa.[8]

• On September 29, a blast killed five and injured four TTP Orakzai Agency militants in the Raj Gul area of the Tirah Valley, Khyber Agency.[9]

• On September 29, unidentified attackers detonated an IED near the main gate of a PTI member of provincial assembly (MPA) in Mayar village, Mardan, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa. No one was hurt but the MPA’s guesthouse was damaged.[10]

India-Pakistan Relations

• In an interview with an Indian channel on September 27, the Adviser to the Prime Minister on National Security and Foreign Affairs, Sartaj Aziz admitted that the timing of the meeting between Kashmiri separatist leaders and the Pakistani High Commissioner to India, that led to the cancellation of bilateral talks with India, was probably mistimed “because a substantial discussion on Kashmir was yet to start.”  He reiterated, however, that the practice of holding talks with Kashmiri leaders was a regular occurrence and that there was nothing new about it.[11]

• In an address to the U.N. General Assembly on September 26, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif criticized India for cancelling bilateral foreign secretary-level talks and claimed the decision to be a “missed opportunity” for negotiations. He also declared that the issue of Kashmir could not be sidelined until it was resolved according to the wishes of the Kashmiri people. In his speech at the U.N. General Assembly on September 27, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi retaliated to Prime Minister Sharif’s address by declaring that India was willing to hold bilateral talks with Pakistan if the talks were held in “a peaceful atmosphere, without a shadow of terrorism.” He also disapproved of the issue being raised at the U.N. General Assembly and said that it would not lead to any progress in resolving issues between the two countries.[12]

Political Crisis

• On September 28, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief Imran Khan held a massive rally in Lahore and declared that anti-government protests would continue around the country until Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif resigned. An estimated 100,000 people attended the rally. Khan also declared that the next PTI rally would be in his hometown of Mianwali on October 2 followed by another one in Multan.[13] 

• In an address on September 27, Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) chief Dr. Tahirul Qadri agreed to let PAT workers return home from the protests in Islamabad on October 4. He also declared that the movement for revolution against the sitting government would continue countrywide. According to a report in The News, the federal government will provide 2,000 buses and other facilities for PAT workers to return home as well as withdraw all registered cases against Dr. Qadri and other PAT workers.[14]

• On September 29, police registered a case against Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif, Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan and eight other ministers on charges of murder and terrorism for allegedly killing three political activists on August 30.[15]

Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs)

• According to a report in The News on September 29, government and security forces directed the people belonging to the Eidak tribe in North Waziristan to leave their village and shift to Bannu, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa as the ongoing military offensive, Operation Zarb-e-Azb, was being extended into new parts of the agency including those inhabited by the tribe.[16]

• According to a September 28 report in the Express Tribune, a grand jirga of IDPs from the Uthmanzai tribe convened in Bannu, Khyber- Pakhtunkhwa and demanded that the government repatriate them to their homes in North Waziristan. The jirga warned that it would march on Islamabad in protest on October 10 if its demands were not met.[17]

Afghanistan

• On September 29, Ashraf Ghani was sworn in as the new President of Afghanistan in Kabul in the country’s first democratic transfer of power. In his inaugural speech, Ghani urged “opponents of the government, especially the Taliban and Hizb-e-Islami to enter political talks.” Ghani also promised to reverse ex-President Karzai’s decision and sign the Bilateral Security Agreement on September 30, allowing 12,500 U.S.-led troops to remain in Afghanistan beyond 2014.[18] 

U.N. General Assembly

• In a meeting between Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on September 25, the Secretary General reportedly applauded Pakistan’s efforts for eliminating terrorism and expressed hope for regional peace and security. He also expressed concern over the devastation caused by floods in Pakistan.[19]