Pakistan Security Brief

All Parties Conference convenes in Islamabad, unanimously approves dialogue with the TTP; TTP welcomes prospect of negotiation; Mamnoon Hussain sworn in as new president of Pakistan; Asif Ali Zardari becomes first president in Pakistan’s history to complete 5-year term; IMF releases first installment of loan package; Pakistan releases seven Afghan Taliban leaders from custody; Pakistan may relocate imprisoned Taliban leader Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar to Saudi Arabia or Turkey; Afghan government will permit re-opening of Taliban's Qatar office on two conditions; Pakistan to grant India "Most Favored Nation" status; LeT founder Hafiz Saeed makes public appearance at rally in Islamabad; Police disrupt remote-controlled model plane plot in Islamabad; Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa government requests federal government take custody of Dr. Shakil Afridi; Grenade and firearm attack at district court in Lahore kills police officer; IED blast in North Waziristan agency kills 2 security personnel; Terror plot in Lahore disrupted with detention of alleged al Qaeda commander at Punjab University.

All Parties Conference

• The All Parties Conference (APC) on Pakistan’s counter-terrorism policy convened in Islamabad today.  Attendees from mainstream political parties unanimously agreed to enter into negotiations with the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) as the first step in a national counterterrorism policy.  They also approved a six-point plan to resolve terrorism issues within Pakistan.  Additionally, the APC recommended that the federal government raise the subject of U.S. drone strikes with the United Nations Security Council in an effort to dissuade unilateral U.S. actions undermining national counterterrorism efforts.[1]

• TTP spokesman Shahidullah Shahid issued a statement on Monday welcoming the APC’s decision to negotiate.  Shahid said the TTP will provide further comments about the proposal following a meeting of its shura council.  An unnamed member of the Taliban’s Political Commission confirmed on Monday that TTP senior leaders have already received and responded to a letter from Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, although the source declined to provide details regarding the letter’s contents. The source said the TTP would factor the APC’s outcome into its decision-making[2]

• Before the APC on Monday morning, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chairman Imran Khan held a discussion with Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, and the Director General of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) regarding the feasibility and potential outcomes of dialogue with the TTP.[3]

Domestic

• Mamnoon Hussain took the presidential oath of office on Monday in Islamabad.  His ascendency follows the departure of former President Asif Ali Zardari on Sunday.  Zardari became the first democratically-elected president in the history of Pakistan to complete his five year tenure.[4]

• The International Monetary Fund (IMF) released the first installment of its new bailout program to Pakistan on Saturday in the amount of $540 million.  After the initial disbursement, the remainder of the $6.7 billion, three-year loan will be paid out quarterly tranches pending favorable reviews of the program and its progress.[5]

Afghan-Pakistan Relations

• On Saturday, the government of Pakistan released seven senior Afghan Taliban officials from custody, including Mullah Mansoor Dadullah.  According to a press statement, the Foreign Ministry says it intends for the release to facilitate reconciliation between the Taliban and the Afghan government.  Unnamed sources within the Afghan government expressed displeasure that Pakistan opted not to release former senior Taliban commander Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar.[6]

• On Sunday, an unnamed senior official told the Express Tribune that negotiations regarding the release of Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar have reached an “advanced stage.”  The governments of the United States, Afghanistan, and Pakistan are planning to relocate Baradar to another country – possibly Saudi Arabia or Turkey – and are planning on having him lead negotiations between the Taliban and the Afghan government.  Baradar helped create the Taliban movement and led military operations against U.S. and NATO troops until his detention in 2010 by Pakistani forces, allegedly to jeopardize the success of peace talks that excluded Pakistan.[7]

• Afghan Foreign Ministry spokesman Janan Mosazai announced on Sunday that the Afghan government would allow the Taliban to re-open its Qatar office and revive negotiations under two conditions.  First, the Taliban is forbidden to refer to the Qatar facility as the political office of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, and it may not conduct any political activities from the site not directly related to the peace process.  Second, Taliban representatives must engage in direct communication with the Afghan High Peace Council, whose members have been targeted for assassination by Taliban militants as recently as May.[8]

Indo-Pakistan Relations

• Finance Minister Ishaq Dar informed the IMF on Monday that Pakistan would give India “Most Favored Nation” (MFN) status to augment regional trade. No date was mentioned for when Pakistan might confer the status. Last month, Dar issued a contradictory statement saying MFN status was not up for discussion.[9]

 

• At a rally in Islamabad commemorating Pakistan’s Defense Day on Friday, Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) founder Hafiz Saeed denounced India as a terrorist state and advocated militancy in Kashmir.  Indian officials have accused Saeed of involvement in the 2008 Mumbai attacks and demanded his arrest.  Saeed’s public appearance at the rally, un-harassed by security officials, demonstrates Pakistan’s reluctance to acquiesce to India’s request.[10]

Militancy

• Following Saturday’s raid on a residence in the Khayaban-e-Kashmir area of Islamabad, police and intelligence officials claim to have disrupted a terrorist plot involving remote-controlled model airplanes laden with explosives.  Security personnel detained four suspects, including three women, and seized several firearms in connection with the attack.  At least one additional suspect escaped.  The detainees are allegedly connected to al Qaeda and the TTP.[11]

• On Saturday, Director General of the Sindh Rangers, Major-General Rizwan Akhtar briefed Prime Minister Sharif on Karachi’s deteriorating security situation.  Akhtar claimed many criminals, terrorists, and militants had already fled the region for safe havens elsewhere in Sindh province or abroad in anticipation of the imminent paramilitary campaign.[12]

• According to a report in the Express Tribune today, the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa provincial government appealed last week to the federal government to take custody of Dr. Shakil Afridi, who stands accused of assisting the U.S. in its quest for Osama bin Laden.  Provincial officials noted that Peshawar’s Central Prison, which holds approximately 250 criminals held on terrorism charges, would be a prime target for future jailbreak operations like the 2012 attack on Bannu prison and the TTP-led July 29 assault on Dera Ismail Khan’s Central Prison.  The report indicates that the federal government has not provided a formal response but has already taken measures to transfer Afridi to a facility in Islamabad.[13]

• According to a report in the The News, former Prime Minister Syed Yusuf Gilani and Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Sami chief Maulana Samiul Haq met with three members of the Haqqani network on Saturday in an attempt to negotiate the release of Gilani’s son, Ali Haider Gilani, who was kidnapped by militants.[14]

• On Sunday, a Bomb Disposal Squad (BDS) unsuccessfully attempted to defuse a device found along the Miram Shah-Ghulam Khan Road in North Waziristan agency.  The blast wounded two security officials.  A subsequent search operation in the area failed to detain any suspects, but located another bomb near the Amin checkpoint.  The BDS defused the second device.  In a related incident, security officials killed a man on Sunday in Kurat village, near North Waziristan agency’s Miram Shah.  The victim’s fellow villagers claim he was targeted for being in violation of curfew, but security personnel claim the man was a terrorist who had attempted to conduct an IED attack against a military convoy near Miram Shah earlier that day.[15]

• On Sunday, militants attacked the Kalingar checkpoint in Miram Shah, North Waziristan agency.  One suspect died and two security personnel were wounded.[16]

• Unidentified assailants conducted a grenade attack at a district court on Monday in Kohat, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province, and then exchanged fire with police officials.  Two attackers and one police official died in the incident.  Nine other people were wounded.  Security officials seized two suicide vests from an undisclosed location during a subsequent operation.[17]

• A man shot and killed five people during a jirga in the Tajj area of Bannu district, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province, on Monday.[18]

• On Saturday, unidentified gunmen killed a private security guard escorting water tankers in the Hazara Kandao area of Karak district, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province.[19]

• Unidentified gunmen opened fire on a vehicle in the Matni area of Peshawar on Friday night, killing six people and wounded one more.[20]

• Further investigation has revealed that a hand grenade, rather than an improvised explosive device (IED), caused Friday’s blast against the Hashtnagri Police Station in Peshawar.[21]

• An explosion along the Sarki Chamba Gul Road in Hangu district, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province, injured a construction worker on Saturday.[22]

• Unidentified gunmen killed a man in the Jehanabad area of Karachi on Sunday.[23]

• Four people were shot to death in Karachi on Saturday, including a Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) activist.[24]

• Rangers detained 23 suspects in Karachi on Saturday following raids in the Yousuf Goth area of Baldia town.[25]

• Late on Sunday night, unidentified gunmen killed three police officials at the Samija checkpoint in the Badani area of Kashmore district, Sindh province.[26]

• Unidentified assailants killed two Balochistan Constabulary personnel and wounded one more during an attack on their checkpoint in the Zangiwal area of Loralai district, Balochistan province.[27]

• A blast along Sariab Road in Quetta killed two people and wounded approximately eight others on Sunday night.[28]

• Militants opened fire on a civilian convoy of jeeps traveling along Kohat Road near Quetta on Friday.  Nine people were killed.  Police officials suspect the assailants mistook the civilians for a military convoy.  In a possibly related incident, militants kidnapped six people and abandoned their vehicles in the area on Saturday.[29]

• Peace committee members and militants clashed in Bara sub-district of Khyber agency on Monday, resulting in the death of five committee members.[30]

• Security officials defused a bomb near the Lahore Railway Station in Punjab province on Sunday.  Police detained one suspect in connection with the plot.[31] 

• On Saturday, security officials detained a suspected al Qaeda commander in hiding at Punjab University in Lahore while preparing to conduct terrorist attacks in the city.  Unnamed university officials claim the Jamiat-e-Islami (JI) student organization sheltered the suspect, although the JI refutes the allegations.[32]

• On Friday, unidentified gunmen opened fire on a residence in Jasooki village, Gujrat district, Punjab province.  The attack killed seven people and wounded four more.[33]