Pakistan Security Brief - June 15, 2011

Pakistan arrests CIA informants who aided in lead-up to Bin Laden raid; Secretary Gates emphasizes importance of U.S.-Pakistani relationship to peace in the region; Drone strike kills ten in South Waziristan; “Target killings” continue in Karachi; Eyewitnesses say unarmed man killed in Karachi had not committed any crime;  Doctors’ protests continue in Quetta.

CIA Informants Arrested

• The New York Times reports that “the Directorate for Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) has arrested . . . several men alleged to be “Pakistani informants who fed information to the Central Intelligence Agency”  as part of the effort to track down Osama bin Laden. Of the five detained, the New York Times claims one was “a Pakistani army major who officials said copied the license plates of cars visiting Bin Laden’s compound in Abbottabad.” In a press release on Wednesday, the Pakistani army refuted the New York Times articleand vehemently denied that an army major was among the detained. According to the article, “[s]ome in Washington see the arrests as illustrative of the disconnect between Pakistani and American priorities.” The New York Times also reports that the ISI “[has] been generally unwilling to carry out surveillance operations for the C.I.A.” since U.S. contractor Raymond Davis was accused of killing two Pakistani men in January.    The New York Times article also reports that last week deputy CIA director Michael J. Morrell told the Senate Intelligence Committee that he would rate Pakistan’s intelligence cooperation with the U.S. as three out of ten. The article also reports that the 120 U.S. military personnel tasked with training Pakistan’s Frontier Corps (FC) have “left the country” following Pakistan’s request of a reduction in the number of U.S. military personnel in the country after the Abbottabad raid. Additionally, fear that Pakistan will further restrict the use of U.S. drones in Pakistan has caused the CIA to look into sending drones from a base in Afghanistan into the tribal areas instead of going through Pakistan. This comes after months of tension in the U.S.-Pakistani relationship, most notably resulting from the Raymond Davis incident and the May 2 U.S. raid in Abbottabad killing Osama Bin Laden.[i]

U.S.-Pakistan Relations

• In an interview with the Associated Press on Monday, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates stated that ties to Pakistan are essential not only for peace in Afghanistan but for “regional stability.” He urged U.S. lawmakers to be “patient” with Pakistan. Gates emphasized the need to “be realistic about Pakistani distrust . . . and their deep belief that when we’re done with Al-Qaeda that we’ll be gone, again.”[ii]

• Former Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf declared he was sure Pakistan did not know where Osama Bin Laden was prior to the U.S. raid in Abbottabad on May 2. Musharraf emphasized that “Pakistan is not a banana republic,” stating, “[n]o country has a right to intrude into any other country.” Musharraf was speaking “with [the] Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) News about his plans to return to Pakistan in 2013.”[iii]

• Geo reports that State Department spokesman Mark Toner stated that there was “no evidence . . . of any link between Inter-Service[s] Intelligence (ISI) and Haqqani network”. Also in his Wednesday briefing, Toner declared that the U.S. “remains committed to working with Pakistan on counterintelligence or counterterrorism operations.”[iv]

• On Tuesday, a US House of Representatives panel passed a defense spending bill imposing limits on American aid to Pakistan. According to the Express Tribune, the bill “would withhold 75 per cent of the $1.1 billion in US aid to Pakistan until the administration reports to Congress on how [Pakistan] would spend the money.”[v]

• The Associated Press reports that Hassan Ghul, an al Qaeda operative described as the “linchpin in the hunt for Osama bin Laden,” has rejoined al Qaeda in Pakistan after being released “from a secret CIA secret prison under pressure from Pakistan.” In 2006, Ghul was returned to Pakistan, “which had been demanding his release since his capture about two years earlier.”[vi]

• Michican Republican House Representative Mike Rogers declared he believes “that there are elements of both the military and intelligence service who in some way, both prior and maybe even current, provided some level of assistance to Osama bin Laden.” He also stated he believes there must be “some level of [bin Laden or Al-Qaeda] sympathizers within the ISI” if bin Laden was able to remain in Abbottabad for five years.[vii]

FATA

• The Express Tribune reports a drone strike killed ten in Wana, South Waziristan on Wednesday. The report claims, “a resident said two missiles apparently hit a sprawling compound belonging to Mullah Nazir’s group.” Local officials, however, say the compound was empty, but that a “vehicle targeted in Sherano Algad . . . resulted in the death of 10 people.”[viii]

Karachi

• Geo reports that twenty-four people have been killed in Karachi in the last three days. Many of those killed beginning on Monday night were political activists. The Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) and the Awami National Party (ANP) released statements saying they “condemned the renewed wave of killings in the city and agreed to work together to prevent such incidents and weed out criminals who were causing a breakdown of law and order.” They emphasized that those committing the target killings had “no political support.”[ix]

Security Force Abuses

• The Express Tribune reports that “eyewitnesses” to the killing of unarmed 22-year-old Sarfaraz Shah did not see him “commit any crime.” Shah was shot and killed by paramilitary Rangers personnel who claimed he was attempting robbery in a public park and attempted to seize a weapon when confronted. Widespread outrage has followed the release of a video of killing. Another video has reportedly surfaced showing “a man in fatigues is seen sexually assaulting and beating at least four blindfolded men whose hands are bound to window and door frames,” but the authenticity of the video has not been confirmed.[x]

Balochistan

• Pakistani news outlet Geo reports that doctors involved in the ongoing protests in Quetta have been tortured by police. The Young Doctors Association has been “on strike for the past two months” asking for salary increases.[xi]

• According to Dawn, a “Special Senate Committee” was stood up on Tuesday to probe into alleged efforts to destroy evidence pertaining to the killing of five foreigners by security forces personnel in Kharotabad last month. A police surgeon and a local photographer were allegedly been detained and tortured by police regarding their testimonies.[xii]