Pakistan Security Brief - July 19, 2010

Pakistan Security Brief – July 19, 2010

Secretary of State Clinton announces $500 million aid package during visit to Islamabad, oversees Pakistan-Afghanistan trade agreement; Special Representative Holbrooke attends Friends of Democratic Pakistan Conference in Islamabad; President Zardari seeks to change visa policy for official US personnel; civilian convoy attacked, military launches strikes against militants in Kurram; Taliban execute alleged ‘US spies’ in North Waziristan; militants surrender, search operation conducted, security checkpost comes under attack in Bajaur; military offensive continues in Orakzai; Frontier Corps convoy struck by IED blast; suicide bombing attack on Shia mosque in Sargodha; twin low-intensity blasts target internet cafes, search operation conducted in Lahore; Iran accuses Pakistan and US of backing Zahedan terror attack, suspends trade with Pakistan; Human Rights Watch report alleges military carried out extra-judicial killings in Swat; jirga meets to discuss factors behind extremism in Swat; senior minister claims 700 militants arrested, arms caches seized in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa; several killed in roadside bomb explosion in Hangu; police kill three extremists, arrest dozens more during raids in Mardan; anti-terror court extends physical remand for terror suspects; Pakistan seeking buyers for new JF-17 combat aircraft; Pakistani nationals among 20 suspects arrested in connection with Uganda suicide bombings; NATO vehicle attacked in Balochistan; Rangers authority in Karachi extended to one year.

US-Pakistan relations

• US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced a $500 million aid package during her second visit to Islamabad on Monday. Clinton said that this latest wave of financial assistance, which is part of the five-year $7.5 billon Kerry-Lugar bill passed last year, will highlight America’s commitment to making “concrete improvements in the lives of Pakistanis” and dispel the popular notion that US engagement with “Pakistan begins and ends with security.” Clinton’s aid announcement comes a day after she oversaw a long awaited trade agreement between Pakistan and Afghanistan which was signed in Islamabad on Sunday. The trade deal will open up trade routes for land-locked Afghanistan, allowing the country access to sea ports in Pakistan as well as markets in India.[1]

• On Saturday, US Special Envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan Richard Holbrooke attended the Friends of Democratic Pakistan conference. The forum, which was held in Islamabad and chaired by Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi, was also attended by representatives from Britain, Saudi Arab, Australia, the European Union, and China, among others.[2]

• President Asif Ali Zardari has issued a proposal which would authorize Pakistan’s ambassador to the US to issue one-year visas for diplomats, officials, and military personnel. Currently, the ambassador has the power to issue three-month visas, after which official US personnel must go through a long and arduous process of extensive investigation by Pakistani security agencies in order to have their visas extended.[3]

FATA

• Suspected militants attacked a civilian convoy in Kurram Agency on Saturday, killing 18 people and injuring several others. The convoy, which was on its way to Kurram’s main town of Parachinar, was passing through the Char Khel area when militants opened fire on the last two vehicles in the convoy with rockets and automatic weapons. Security forces arrested 36 people and imposed a curfew in the area as part of the search operation to locate seven people who were reportedly kidnapped during the attack.[4] Separately, fighter jets and helicopter gunships targeted militant positions in the upper and central parts of Kurram on Sunday, killing 25 militants and destroying six hideouts and training camps.[5]

• On Friday, the Taliban in North Waziristan publicly executed two men they accused of being US spies by strapping explosives to their bodies and blowing them up. The bullet-riddled bodies of two more alleged US spies were also discovered in North Waziristan on Sunday. The bodies were found with a note warning that others who spy for the US will meet the same fate.[6]

• On Sunday, 24 militants, including three commanders, surrendered themselves to security forces during a jirga of Mamund tribal elders in Bajaur Agency. A military spokesman also announced that security forces had seized a large amount of weapons and ammunition during search operations in Mamund sub-district while Bajaur’s political administration set a deadline of July 31 for tribesmen to register small arms with the government and ordered that heavy weapons be handed over. Separately, one Bajaur Levies personnel and two civilians were wounded during a late-night militant attack on several security checkposts in residential areas of Khar, the first such incident in the area in the past two years. Security forces reported that the militants also sustained casualties during the two-hour exchange of fire.[7]

• Security forces continue to launch strikes against the Taliban in Orakzai Agency, with 18 militants reported killed on Saturday, 25 militants killed on Sunday, and 20 militants killed today. (For detailed bi-weekly updates on the security situation in Orakzai CLICK HERE)[8]

• Four Frontier Corps personnel were wounded when their convoy was struck by an IED blast near Spin Qabar in the Bara sub-district of Khyber Agency on Sunday. Although no group has claimed responsibility for the blast, locals have said that incidents of roadside bomb attacks have increased over the past three weeks.[9]

Punjab

• A suicide bombing attack outside a Shia mosque in Sargodha on Sunday evening left at least three people dead and more than 20 others wounded. Witnesses say that a teenage suicide bomber blew himself up as worshippers were leaving the mosque after evening prayers.[10]

• Six people were injured in nearly simultaneous low-intensity blasts at two internet cafes in different parts of Lahore on Saturday. Shortly before the attacks, a group calling itself Tehrik-e-Tahaffuz-e-Haqooq-e-Pakistan contacted several media organizations via text messages to claim responsibility for the explosions and called the incident a “warning attack” which sought to persuade the government to “take steps to control the spread of vulgarity.” On Sunday, police detained eight people from FATA and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa during a search operation in the Garhi Shahu area of the city. However, investigators said that these arrests were not related to the twin blasts on Sunday and that they do not yet have any leads into the case.[11]

Pakistan-Iran relations

• On Sunday, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad accused the Pakistani government, along with US forces in Afghanistan, of backing Thursday’s twin suicide bombing attack on a Shia mosque in Zahedan which left 28 people dead. Ahmadinejad said that although Iran was a friend of Pakistan, “the government of that country should be accountable.” Iran has also suspended trade activities with Pakistan and closed the border in Taftan, spawning concerns that Pakistanis living in the border areas will soon suffer a shortage of food and other goods.[12]

Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa

• A new report released by Human Rights Watch on Friday alleges that the Pakistani Army has been responsible for extra-judicial killings in Swat Valley since September of last year. According to Human Rights Watch, “numerous credible reports” indicate that army soldiers and police acting at the behest of the army captured and executed 238 Taliban suspects following the military’s success in regaining control over the region. Military spokesman Major General Athar Abbas issued a statement denying the accusations, calling it “just another effort to malign the Pakistan army” and an attempt to “prevent US aid from coming to Pakistan.”[13]

• A jirga arranged by the Islamabad-based Center for Research and Security Studies (CRSS) was held in Swat on Saturday to discuss the factors which have led to an increase in militancy in the region. Speakers at the meeting concluded that “poverty, ignorance, bad governance, a lack of justice,” and a widening income gap were fundamental causes behind Swat’s rise in extremism. Furthermore, the jirga called for the government to take steps to offer quality education throughout the region as well as improve its reconstruction and development efforts.[14]

• Senior Minister Bashir Ahmed Bilour of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa has claimed that around 700 militants have been arrested and a huge arms and ammunition cache has been seized during ongoing search operations in Peshawar and elsewhere throughout the province.[15]

• On Saturday, a roadside bomb explosion in the Bughto Chowk area of Hangu district left seven people injured, including three policemen.[16]

• Police in Mardan killed three extremists and arrested 296 suspected militants and criminals during a large-scale search operation encompassing several different parts of Mardan district on Friday. A large cache of arms and ammunition was also reportedly seized during the raids.[17]

Uganda bombings

• Police in Uganda have indicated that several Pakistani nationals were among 20 people arrested in connection with last week’s suicide bombing in Kampala which left more than 70 people dead. The police chief Kale Kayihura said that an email sent by a spokesman for al-Shabaab, the Somali-based Islamist extremist group which claimed responsibility for the attack, mentioned that one of the arrested Pakistanis had ties with the group.[18]

Terror suspects

• On Friday, an anti-terrorism court in Lahore extended the physical remand of two terror suspects who allegedly facilitated last month’s attack on two places of Ahmadi worship. The extension will allow authorities to conduct their investigation for another ten days before the suspects must appear in court again on July 26.[19]

New combat aircraft

• Pakistan is seeking buyers for its new JF-17 Thunder, a multi-role combat aircraft co-produced with China. A military official stated on Saturday that the funds generated through the sales of the fighter jet would contribute to the Pakistani Air Force’s modernization efforts. He further added that Turkey as well as several countries in the Middle East and East Africa have already taken an interest in purchasing the aircraft and that 250 planes are due to enter service with the PAF.[20]

Balochistan

• Two people were wounded when unidentified gunmen opened fire on a vehicle carrying supplies for NATO forces in Afghanistan as it was travelling near Kalat in Balochistan on Sunday.[21]

Karachi

• The authority of the paramilitary Rangers to operate in Karachi has been extended to a period of one year. The Sindh government has granted the Rangers powers equivalent to that of the local police in order to quell the violence in the city, including the power to conduct investigations and make arrests.[22]