Pakistan Security Brief - June 22, 2010

Suspected German militant arrested in northern Pakistan; Taliban offers prisoner swap for 33 missing soldiers; Faisal Shahzad pleads guilty to terrorism and weapons charges in U.S. District Court; suspected militants destroy shrine in Peshawar; Pakistan’s Prime Minister says Pakistan to proceed with deal to import natural gas from Iran; RAND Corporation urges criteria-based nuclear development deal with Pakistan;  Pakistan’s Foreign Minister criticizes U.N. report on Bhutto assassination; U.N. Special Envoy discusses alleged  human rights abuses with Pakistani officials; six people were killed by gunmen in Karachi in separate attacks; 11 militants killed by fighter jets in Orakzai Agency; four militants killed by security forces in Swat.

German Militant Arrested

• According to intelligence officials, police arrested a suspected German militant on Monday at a checkpoint in Bannu District, which borders North Waziristan. The suspect, allegedly an expert in making suicide vests, was using a fake Pakistani passport and wearing a woman’s burqa when he was arrested. Police in Bannu said that the suspect and his two accomplices were in a vehicle travelling from the town of Mir Ali to Peshawar. The German Embassy in Islamabad has yet to comment on the arrest.[1]

Pakistan’s Missing Soldiers

• Taliban militants on Tuesday offered a prisoner swap in return for 33 missing soldiers, threatening to kill the men if the government rejects the proposal. Qari Ikramullah, a spokesman for Tehrik-e-Taliban (TTP) in Mohmand Agency, called for the government to work out the details with tribal leaders in Mohmand or “face the consequences.” Major Fazal-ur-Rehman, a spokesman for the Frontier Corps, confirmed that 33 soldiers were still missing after their checkpoint was attacked last Thursday, but said that the government had received no offer of a swap with the TTP.[2]

Faisal Shahzad Trial

• Pakistani-American Faisal Shahzad pleaded guilty in a U.S. District Court in Manhattan on Monday. “I want to plead guilty 100 times because unless the US pulls out of Afghanistan and Iraq, until they stop drone strikes in Somalia, Pakistan, and Yemen, and stop attacking Muslim lands, we will attack the US and be out to get them,” he said. This comes just days after Shahzad was indicted by a federal grand jury on 10 terrorism and weapons counts in connection with the attempted car-bombing in New York’s Times Square. The 30-year old Shahzad also described his efforts to set off the bomb on May 1, saying he chose Saturday night because it would be crowded with people he could kill.[3]

Peshawar

• Suspected militants destroyed a shrine on the outskirts of Peshawar on Monday. A Chamkani police official told The Express Tribune that the attack took place around 3 am, when a bomb positioned near the wall of the shrine detonated. According to police, the bomb weighed around 1.5 kilograms and was place inside a plastic container near the mausoleum. No arrests have been made so far in connection with the bombing. Sources report that recent attacks in Peshawar indicate that militants are again resurfacing in the city.[4]

U.S.-Pak Relations

• Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani said on Tuesday that Pakistan will proceed with a plan to import natural gas from Iran. Gilani’s comments come two days after U.S. Special Envoy to Pakistan, Richard Holbrooke, cautioned Pakistan against over committing to the deal ahead of the U.S. decision to impose tougher sanctions, which would hurt Pakistani companies. The deal has created tension between the two allies, with Islamabad arguing that the new pipeline is vital to cope with Pakistan’s energy crisis and the Washington stressing that it would undermine international pressure on Iran to suspend its nuclear program. Pakistan and Iran finalized the gas deal earlier this month.[5]

• The United States should reconsider its policies towards Pakistan ahead of the 46-member Nuclear Supplies Group (NSG) meeting in New Zealand, according to a RAND Corporation study. RAND Corporation officials are saying that the U.S. should consider offering a criteria-based nuclear development plan to Pakistan, in which nuclear cooperation would be tied to greater visibility in Pakistan’s program, submission to safeguards, access top A.Q. Khan, and a strategic decision to abandon militancy as an instrument of foreign and domestic policy. Authors Christine Fair of Georgetown University and Seth Jones of RAND Corporation suggested that “such a deal would confer acceptance of Islamabad’s nuclear weapon program and reward it for the improvements in nuclear security it has made since 2002.”[6]

U.N.-Pak Relations

• Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi on Monday criticized the United Nation’s report on Benazir Bhutto’s assassination and said that the extension of the three-member commission’s tenure was unjustified. In the letter to U.N. Secretary Ban Ki-moon, the Foreign Ministry questioned why the U.N. did not meet with international leaders that Pakistan wanted the commission to interview. [7]

• The U.N. Special Envoy for Pakistan Ambassador Jean Maurice Ripert discussed alleged abuses by military personnel in separate meetings with numerous government and military officials, including President Asif Ali Zardari, Prime Minister Yousuf Gilani, Army Chief General Ashfaq Kayani, “Practically what is important is to ensure and promote respect for humanitarian and human rights rules and principles,” the envoy said while talking to Dawn. During the meetings, Mr. Ripert discussed issues such as extra-judicial killings, abductions, and arbitrary imprisonment during military operations in the Federally Administer Tribal Areas and parts of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa.[8]

Karachi

• At least six people were killed in separate attacks in Karachi on Tuesday, according to sources. Four people were when unidentified gunmen riding a motorcycle opened fire on a vehicle on a narrow street in P&T Colony, killing all four passengers. Police have started an investigation into the incident.  Also, one person was killed in Lyari and two others were sustained life-threatening gunshot wounds in Surjani.[9]

 Orakzai Operation

• At least 11 militants were killed in an attack by fighter jets in Orakzai Agency on Tuesday. The militants were killed when security forces attacked hideouts in Orakzai’s Nandarmela, Hai Toey and Istar-qalay areas.[10]

Swat

• Four militant were killed by security forces on Tuesday operating in different areas in Swat. According to official sources, four militant were killed in clashes with security forces in Mirandam in Tehsil Khawazakhela. Security forces recovered rifles, grenades, and knives from the militants.[11]