Davis to be detained a further fourteen days; Dialogue between top officials over Davis case; Ten people injured in clashes in Khyber; Militants in Bajaur given deadline to surrender; Hussain: Militants acting on directives of Mohmand militants; Man killed by TTP in Khyber; Girls’ school blown up in Orakzai; Arms seized in Bajaur; Construction of road in FATA; Members of new Cabinet sworn in; Eleven militants killed in Swat; Four injured in Balochistan; Bodies discovered in Hernok; Blast in Dera Bugti; Railroad tracks attacked in Sindh; Strike in Kashmir; Psychological profile on suicide bombers.
U.S.-Pakistani Relations
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A Pakistani court has ordered the U.S. national accused of murder, Raymond Davis, to be detained a further fourteen days in a local city jail. The judge additionally advised the Pakistani government to clarify if Davis possesses diplomatic immunity. Following the order, Lahore police chief Aslam Tareen declared that Davis’ shooting was “intentional and cold-blooded murder," stating that the second Pakistani man was shot in the back as he was trying to flee. The police have sent a charge sheet to the court, advocating for Davis to face a murder trial. In addition, sources have told the Daily Telegraph that Davis was in communication with insurgents affiliated with the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi in South Waziristan. The sources furthermore allege that he was being tailed by men hired by Pakistan's ISI, because they suspected Davis was spying.[i]
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According to the New York Times, Secretary of State Clinton and the director of the CIA, Leon Panetta, have placed telephone calls to President Zardari and Lt. Gen. Ahmad Shuja Pasha, the head of the ISI, warning that the continued imprisonment of Davis will jeopardize the relationship between the two countries. Dawn additionally reports that the Pakistani Ambassador to the U.S., Husain Haqqani, met with National Security Advisor Tom Donilon to discuss the Davis case. In response to an ABC media report alleging that Haqqani was to be removed from Washington, U.S. consulates in Pakistan closed, and the upcoming visit by Pakistan's president to Washington canceled, U.S. spokesperson Courtney Beale said the reports were untrue and inaccurate. Beale said, “The US and Pakistan remain partners and we look forward to resolving the Raymond Davis case in accordance with international and Pakistani law and in the spirit of our countries’ friendship.”[ii]
FATA
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Ten people were hurt in clashes between militants in Khyber Agency on Thursday. Sources tell The News that six Lashkar-e-Islam (LI) militants exchanged fire with six militants of an organization backed by the Qambarkhel Afridi tribe, Amr Bil Maroof Wa Nahi Anil Munker (Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice). The fighting lasted for over six hours, before the LI militants fled upon being shelled by security forces.[iii]
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Militants in Bajaur Agency have been given a fifteen-day deadline by security forces to surrender or else face military operations in the region. A jirga of security officers meeting with elders in Salarzai sub-district announced that militants refusing to surrender after the February 25 deadline would be targeted.[iv]
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On Thursday, Information and Culture Minister Mian Iftikhar Hussain stated that militants operating in Mardan, Peshawar, and Charsadda were acting on telephoned directives of militants battling security forces in Mohmand Agency, in order to distract the government from operations against them in Mohmand. Iftikhar went on to say that the insurgents originated from inside Afghanistan, but posses branches in the Pakistani tribal area and in various settled areas. He urged the U.S., Afghanistan and Pakistan to take joint action against the roots inside Afghanistan.[v]
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The body of a beheaded man kidnapped by Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) militants was discovered in the Tirah valley in Khyber Agency on Thursday. A note attached to the body stated that this would be the fate of those spying on behalf of the government.[vi]
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A girls’ school was blown up in Mirazai village of Orakzai Agency on Thursday. The explosion caused damage to the structure; however no injuries or fatalities were reported in the attack. No group has claimed responsibility for the incident.[vii]
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A large cache of arms was seized by security forces in Bajaur Agency on Thursday. According to the officer in charge, dozens of rocket launchers, rockets, mortar shells and mines were seized in Wara Mamund. Elsewhere in the Badan area of Wara Mamund, security officers set on fire the houses of two alleged insurgents. [viii]
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The U.S. has commenced the construction of a road running through South Waziristan to the perimeter of North Waziristan, in order to promote economic growth and lessen support for militants in the area. Edward Birgells, the head of USAID in north-west Pakistan, said “We can have an impact on economic development. What we need to do is lay this groundwork there so basically there is an incentive for people to invest.” The $80 million construction project is planned to be finished this summer. [ix]
Internal Politics
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A new cabinet was sworn in by President Zardari on Friday in Islamabad. More than twenty federal ministers were sworn in, following the government’s plan to dissolve and downsize the previous cabinet. The new body includes eighteen old and four new ministers. [x]
Operation in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
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Eleven militants were killed in Swat by security forces on Friday. A military spokesman said that the militants had fled from Mohmand Agency following operations by security officers. Elsewhere in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, five bodies were discovered in Mardan, a day after a suicide bombing which killed thirty-one soldiers. The bodies were accompanied with notes that declared, “long live Taliban Pakistan.”[xi]
Attack in Balochistan
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Four people were injured in an attack on a train by unidentified militants in Nasirabad district on Thursday. The armed men attached a bomb to a railway track in the Notal area before firing rockets on a passenger train heading for Quetta.[xii]
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Two bodies were discovered in Hernok on Thursday, one a leader of the Baloch Student Organization in Gwadar and the other a member of the Turbat Balochistan National Party (BNP). The Daily Times reports that the incident prompted violence in Awaran, Mashkey, and Turbat, where two government bureaus and a Balochistan Rural Support Program center were set on fire.[xiii]
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Three security officers were injured by a blast in Dera Bugti on Thursday. The officers’ vehicle was damaged by an improvised explosive device (IED) detonated in the Pirkoh area. No group has claimed responsibility for the attack.[xiv]
Blasts in Sindh
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Railroad tracks were attacked in four separate locations around Sindh province on Friday, including two outside of Karachi. The explosion near the Baloch Colony bridge area in Karachi injured two, though no injuries were reported in the Hyderabad, Nawabshah and Mehrabpur explosions. A ministry official, Sharfuddin Memon, said, “These attacks are linked to the situation in northwest Pakistan and the aim was to target communications networks and create panic among the people.”[xv]
Strike in Kashmir
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On Friday, a strike was called by separatist groups in the Indian portion of Kashmir in order to pay tribute to a pro-independence leader executed by India over twenty-five years ago. Police and soldiers established checkpoints and prohibited the gathering of more than four people in order to avert protests. [xvi]
Brainwashed Suicide Bombers
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A report by Dawn analyzes the question: “what makes a child trade in his school books for a suicide vest?” The article cites experts who argue that poverty exists as a main catalyst behind suicide bombing acts. Because many cannot afford to send their children to schools, the students are pushed into extremist religious madrassas. In reference to the suicide bombing on Thursday by a teenage boy in Mardan, psychiatrist Razwan Taj speculated that “the 12-year-old boy (suicide bomber) was probably inducted into a madrassa for the last five to 10 years.” Experts told Dawn that once students graduate from the madrassas, they are psychologically prepared to join militant groups, who provide them with rigorous training. “They are told they are God’s chosen people who have been selected to this holy and sacred job of waging a holy war for the glory of the religion,” states an expert on suicide bombings at the Pak Institute for Peace Studies in Islamabad.[xxvii]