Pakistan Security Brief – August 16, 2010
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon visits Pakistan, urges world to increase its assistance for flood relief; heavy rains expected to increase flooding in the next week; 6 million people still in need of aid as outbreaks of disease threaten flood survivors; drone strike kills 13 militants in North Waziristan; U.S. has reportedly stopped pressuring Pakistan to launch North Waziristan operation.
Floods
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UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon visited flood affected areas in Pakistan over the weekend as the two-week death toll for the disaster rose to 1,463. After touring the devastation, Ban urged the international community to speed up its assistance to Pakistan, saying that he had “witnessed many natural disasters around the world, but nothing like this.” Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani claims that more than 20 million people have been affected by the floods, a considerably higher figure than the UN’s estimates of 14 million.[1]
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Weather authorities in Pakistan are forecasting heavy rains which will likely lead to increased flooding over the next week. The floods have destroyed all 41 bridges in Upper Dir district and an additional 60 bridges in Swat district while road access to many northern areas of the country remains blocked off. On Friday, the Sindh administration ordered the evacuation of Jacobabad, Thul, and other nearby towns located along the Indus River. Flooding has also spread into Balochistan, where three villages have been completely flooded.[2]
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According to UN aid agencies, over 6 million people in Pakistan are still in need of food, shelter, and medical care. The spokesman for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), Maurizio Giuliano, also said that up to 3.5 million children are at “high risk for deadly water-borne diseases” as UN health officials confirmed the first outbreak of cholera in Swat. Angry flood victims blocked highways in Sukkur to protest the slow delivery of aid and the poor treatment of survivors by the Pakistani government. [3]
FATA
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As many as 13 militants were killed in a suspected US drone strike in North Waziristan on Saturday. The missile struck a compound in the village of Isuri, near Mir Ali, while the militants were holding special Ramadan prayers. Foreign fighters are believed to be among the dead but it is unclear whether any high value targets were present at the time of the attack.[4]
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Militants attacked a security forces patrol in the Palai area of Khyber Agency on Friday, killing one security forces personnel and injuring three others. The security forces later cordoned off the area and began a search operation for the attackers.[5]
Balochistan
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A total of 16 people have been killed in two separate incidents of ethnic violence in Balochistan on Saturday. Ten non-Balochis from eastern Punjab were shot to death after gunmen stopped their bus outside of Quetta and forced them out of the vehicle. Six non-Balochi laborers were also killed and three others injured when they were attacked by a group of gunmen in Quetta. Authorities suspect Balochi rebels for being behind the attacks but no group has yet claimed responsibility.[6]
U.S.-Pakistan Relations
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The U.S. military has reportedly stopped pressing Pakistan to launch an operation against the Haqqani network in North Waziristan. Defense Secretary Robert Gates previously told reporters that the U.S. did not expect Pakistan to conduct a new offensive in the region anytime soon since the Pakistani military is already preoccupied with consolidating its recent gains in the fight against militants. Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Admiral Mike Mullen was also reported to have not brought up the subject of a North Waziristan operation during his visit to Pakistan last month. Several U.S. officials have also expressed their belief that pressuring Islamabad for a new military offensive would only strain relations between the two countries.[7]
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Secretary of State Hillary Clinton phoned President Asif Ali Zardari on Saturday evening to express sympathies over the deaths and destruction caused by the flooding in Pakistan. Clinton also said that the people and the government of the U.S. were behind Pakistan and would continue to extend all possible support to the Pakistani people for flood relief and reconstruction.[8]
Karachi
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On Sunday, Sindh government officials announced that they would not pursue a plan to deploy Frontier Constabulary troops to Karachi to assist the Rangers with maintaining law and order in the city. The plan was initially considered as a result of the week-long wave of violence which followed the murder of top MQM-H official Raza Haider. However, a senior Sindh official stated that the plan has been scrapped now that the situation has returned to normal and “no more serious incident or violence was reported in the city.”[9]
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An MQM-H activist was gunned down in Karachi on Friday morning. The victim, Wasim Ahmed, was gunned down by motorcycle riding gunmen while travelling with his family in the Quaidabad area of the city. Two other people were also reported killed in separate firing incidents on Friday while two kidnapping victims were safely recovered during a joint operation in Pak Colony. Police also arrested 37 criminals and seized a large quantity of weapons and drugs during a raid on a house in Quaidabad.[10]