Bin Laden considered targeting Obama in the air; U.K. lawyer seeks arrest of CIA counsel for drone strike approval; Ilyas Kashmiri may be alive; Pakistan lost track of Zawahiri after 2008 meeting with Mehsud; Al Qaeda posts ISI-designed espionage course; Malik offers Indian counterpart condolences after Mumbai blasts; Jehangir condemns terrorism in South Asia, President Zardari visits Iran; Kunar governor rejects claim that Kunar hosts Pakistani militants; Hina Rabbani Khar appointed Foreign Minister; Pakistani Taliban releases video of police executions; Shabqadar residents recall Taliban presence; Gunmen fire on van in Kurram; Schools “ransacked” and tankers attacked in Khyber Agency; Five government officials kidnapped in Balochistan; LeJ leader family received stipend from Punjab government.
U.S.-Pakistan Relations
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Evidence retrieved from Osama bin Laden’s Abbottabad compound reportedly shows he considered shooting down Air Force or Marine One as a means of targeting President Barack Obama. Bin Laden also considered shooting down General David Petraeus’ plane and attacking a U.S. sporting event. Bin Laden’s “hit list” may be related to reports that he was planning an attack on the upcoming tenth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks.[i]
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U.K. human rights lawyer Clive Hafford Smith is reportedly seeking the arrest of John Rizzo, the CIA general counsel who allegedly gave legal approval to U.S. drone attacks in Pakistan. According to the Guardian, Smith, who heads the human rights activist group Reprieve, has “launched a lawsuit along with a Pakistani lawyer, Shahzad Akbar,” accusing the U.S. of killing noncombatants in drone strikes. Smith believes that given the ambiguous nature of U.S. involvement in Pakistan and the political climate within the country he will be able to get an arrest warrant and force the U.S.’s hand in refusing extradition. Smith’s estimate of 2,500 civilian deaths killed by U.S. drone strikes in Pakistan is significantly higher than the numbers generally mentioned.[ii]
Kashmiri Alive?
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On Friday, Dawn reported that, according to unnamed sources, terrorist leader Ilyas Kashmiri was alive and active in the Afghanistan-Pakistan border region. Kashmiri commanded the Harkat-ul-Jihad-ul-Islami (HuJI) before his reported death in a drone strike last month. The U.S. hesitated to confirm Kashmiri’s death after the June 3 strike, but U.S. officials eventually stated he was likely dead. No further information has emerged since Dawn’s initial report.[iii]
2008 Zawahiri-Mehsud Meeting
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The Express Tribune reports Pakistani officials knew of a 2008 meeting between current al Qaeda head Ayman al-Zawahiri and deceased Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) leader Baitullah Mehsud but failed to track Zawahiri’s movement after the meeting. After Mehsud met with Zawahiri, the U.S. reportedly began to consider the TTP more seriously as a threat and started targeting the TTP with drone strikes, one of which killed Baitullah Mehsud in August 2009.[iv]
Al Qaeda Uses ISI Training Course
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The Washington Post’s “Checkpoint Washington” blog reports al Qaeda has posted a manual on operational security and espionage tactics written by Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI). The course also details how to “screen potential mujah[ideen]” and operate under “deep cover.” It is unknown how al Qaeda obtained these materials.[v]
India-Pakistan Relations
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On Saturday, Pakistan’s Interior Minister Rehman Malik called India’s Union Minister of Home Affairs P. Chidambaram to offer his condolences after last Wednesday’s attacks in Mumbai. Malik expressed Pakistan’s desire that “cooperation and good neighborly relations between the two countries would continue growing.” Malik assured his counterpart that Pakistan would give all possible assistance in the investigation of the attacks.[vi]
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On Friday, Supreme Court Bar Association President Asma Jehangir released a statement declaring terrorists the “enemy of humanity.” Jehangir emphasized the need to “work collectively to make South Asia a terrorism free region.”[vii]
Zardari in Iran
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During a meeting with Pakistan’s President Asif Ali Zardari, Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei reportedly stated the U.S. and the West were the real enemies of Pakistan. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and President Zardari together called for increased cooperation between the two nations during Zardari’s second visit in Iran in the last month.[viii]
Pak-Afghan relations
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On Friday, the governor of the eastern Afghan province of Kunar denied that Pakistani militants had found sanctuary in Afghanistan and challenged Pakistani officials to share any intelligence proving him wrong. On Thursday, Pakistan’s Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) spokesman Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas claimed the Afghan provinces of Kunar and Nuristan had become the primary safe havens for numerous Pakistani militant groups and their leaders. Afghan President Hamid Karzai and President Zardari are scheduled to meet in Kabul on Tuesday to discuss recent cross border tensions.[ix]
Khar to Take Foreign Minister Post
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Current Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Hina Rabbani Khar will reportedly be appointed as the new Foreign Minister. Sources say the appointment was made with an eye on the talks with India scheduled for the end of the month. As Foreign Minister, Khar will meet with the Indian Foreign Minister after the two nations’ Foreign Secretaries hold “preparatory talks.”[x]
Hizb-ut Tahrir Affiliated Brig. Gen. Chooses Court Martial
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The Express Tribune reports that Brig. Gen. Ali Khan, who is accused of holding ties to the banned international Islamist group Hizb-ut Tahrir, has chosen to face a court martial. Khan is the highest ranking officer to be arrested in the Pakistani military in several years.[xi]
Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa
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On Monday, the Pakistani Taliban released a video showing militants executing sixteen policemen. The policemen were reportedly captured in a cross-border attack in Upper Dir on June 1. ISPR spokesman Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas claimed the militants were from Swat. The video shows militants accusing the men of “executing six children” in Swat and being “enemies of the religion of Allah” before opening fire on them.[xii]
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In an Express Tribune report residents of the town of Shabqadar in Charsadda district recall the horrors of “Talibanisation” in the region. The militants who led the effort were affiliated with the chapter of the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) operating out of the neighboring Mohmand Agency. Residents remember how the Taliban attempted to institute a harsh interpretation of Islamic and how they punished those who opposed them. Shabqadar’s residents were mostly against Taliban influence and, consequently, suffered at the hands of militants attempting to institute a harsh interpretation of Islamic law. Local lashkars opposed the militants alone until Frontier Corps and police personnel helped them push militants out of the region.[xiii]
FATA
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On Saturday, gunmen fired on a van of Sunni Muslims in Kurram Agency, killing all ten passengers. The van was reportedly traveling through a predominantly Shiite area. Kurram, the focus of an ongoing military operation targeting militant groups, has been plagued by sectarian violence for years.[xiv]
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On Friday, militants “ransacked at least 11 government schools” in Bara tehsil in Khyber Agency. On Saturday, security forces reportedly “dynamited three hideouts of Lashkar-[e]-Islam,” also in Bara tehsil. Also on Saturday, three people were killed in militant attacks on NATO oil tankers in Khyber. The militants blew up one tanker, killing two people and leading to a massive fire that “destroyed up to 100 shops.” Later on Saturday, gunmen fired on another tanker, killing its driver and wounding another.[xv]
Karachi
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Five people were killed in targeted killings in Karachi on Saturday, including Ahmer Anwar, “a senior [Pakistan Peoples Party] PPP leader and [Pakistan International Airways] PIA labor union president.” Interior Minister Rehman Malik claimed “Israel-made weapons” had been recovered from those who committed violent acts in Karachi in recent weeks. Malik also alleged some of those responsible for the targeted killings themselves were being brought in from abroad.[xvi]
Balochistan
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On Sunday, “tribal rebels” reportedly kidnapped five officials in Sorange district. The Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) has claimed responsibility for the kidnapping. The BLA seeks political autonomy and “a greater share of profits from the region’s natural oil, gas and mineral resources.”[xvii]
LeJ Leader Received Punjab Government Support
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According to the Express Tribune, the family of the leader of the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ,) Malik Ishaq, has received a “monthly stipend” from the government of Punjab since 2008. Ishaq, who was released on Thursday after being granted bail on his remaining twelve charges, is thought to be responsible for the 2009 attack on the Sri Lankan cricket team.[xviii]