Zardari wants “clear terms of engagement”; Afghanistan, Pakistan, U.S. continue trilateral talks; U.S. urges reversal of new diplomatic travel restrictions; Bin Laden raid was a kill mission; China blames Islamists for Xinjiang violence; Karachi: thirty-five killed in last day; Roadside bomb kills two soldiers; JI deputy accuses government of pursuing “U.S. agenda”; Kayani denies army complicity in Balochistan human rights abuses; Police arrest fifty suspects; Punjab bars donations to banned groups during Ramadan.
U.S.-Pakistan Relations
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On Monday, President Asif Ali Zardari told U.S. Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan Ambassador Marc Grossman that the U.S. and Pakistan needed to agree to “clear terms of engagement” if they were to continue the fight against terror without further straining relations. In the wake of the May 2 raid that killed Osama bin Laden, Pakistani officials have expressed concerns that further unilateral actions on the part of the U.S. could jeopardize cooperation between the two nations.[i]
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On Tuesday, Islamabad will host the fourth round of U.S.-Afghanistan-Pakistan trilateral talks. The lead representatives present from each country will be the U.S. Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan Ambassador Marc Grossman, Deputy Foreign Minister of Afghanistan Jawid Luddin and Pakistan’s Foreign Secretary Salman Bashir.[ii]
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On Monday, U.S. State Department deputy spokesman Mark Toner said the U.S. had “raised . . . concerns” to the Pakistani government about the newly implemented travel restrictions on diplomats living in Pakistan. Toner said that although diplomats were able to travel when they had the correct documentation, “envoys should be able to travel freely in line with the Vienna Convention.” Toner said it was possible the U.S. would retaliate with a similar measure aimed at Pakistani diplomats in the U.S.[iii]
Bin Laden Raid
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A new article in the New Yorker claims the U.S. Navy Seals who executed the raid that killed bin Laden did, in fact, have explicit orders to kill rather than capture. U.S. officials have insisted that bin Laden would have been captured alive if he had not resisted. The New Yorker article claims bin Laden would only have been captured if he had “conspicuously surrendered.” The anonymous source cited in the article insists that all those involved in the raid were clear that the plan was to kill bin Laden regardless of provisions for his capture.[iv]
China Blames Islamists for Attacks
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China has continued to blame militants based in Pakistan affiliated with the East Turkistan Islamic Movement (ETIM) for violent attacks in Xinjiang that occurred over the weekend. The ETIM is an Islamist extremist group active in Pakistan that seeks independence for Muslim regions in China’s northwest, which they call East Turkistan, and the conversion of all Chinese people to Islam. China’s identification of Pakistan as the geographic source of the plot is unusual, given the close ties between the two countries.[v]
Karachi
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At least thirty-five people have been killed in targeted killings in Karachi since Monday. Killings have spiked in recent weeks as tensions increased between the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) and the Awami National Party (ANP). The MQM “staged a walkout from the lower house of parliament” to protest the government’s inadequate reaction to violence in Karachi. Sindh’s Inspector General of Police Wajid Durrani has transferred nine high-ranking police officers to Karachi to help stomp out violence in the city.[vi]
FATA
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On Tuesday, two soldiers were killed in near Ladha, South Waziristan when a roadside bomb struck their vehicle. The vehicle was reportedly transporting troops through the dangerous border area.[vii]
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On Monday, Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) deputy chief Sirajul Haq criticized new regulations that limit civil rights in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA). He accused the government of trying to push a “U.S. agenda” in the FATA by not allowing local people to air grievances regarding drone strikes and military operations.[viii]
Balochistan
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On Monday, Chief of Army Staff General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani told reporters the army was not responsible for disappearances and other human rights abuses in Balochistan. A recent Human Rights Watch report accused the Pakistani security establishment of using forced disappearances to quash the Baloch separatist movement. Gen. Kayani stressed that it was the government’s responsibility to deal with the problem of Baloch nationalism, not the army’s.[ix]
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On Tuesday, police arrested fifty suspects around Quetta in connection with recent violence. On Saturday, gunmen opened fire on a van full of Shiites, killing eleven people.[x]
Organizations Banned from Collecting Ramadan Donations
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On Tuesday, the Home Department of Punjab barred twenty-three banned organizations from collecting donations during Ramadan. Those found violating the ban will be tried under the Anti-Terrorism Act.[xi]