Mullen links ISI to the Haqqani Network, Pakistan warns of risks to U.S.-Pakistan relations; NATO commander blames attack on Kayani’s inaction; Kayani looks to Rangers to restore trade and industry in Karachi; Karachi blast targeted police chief’s son; Pakistan hopes dialogue with India will resolve Kashmir dispute; Iran closes border with Pakistan following Tuesday’s killing of Shia pilgrims; Remote-controlled bomb kills 5 in Bajaur; Roadside blast injures two outside Quetta; Gunmen kill seven people in separate incidents; Two militants, soldier killed in Swat district; Roadside bomb kills four militants.
U.S.-Pakistan Relations
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In his testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC), U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Admiral Mike Mullen accused Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) of supporting the Haqqani Network. Mullen said, “With ISI support, Haqqani operatives planned and conducted the assault on our embassy … We also have credible evidence that they were behind the June 28 attack against the Inter-Continental Hotel in Kabul and a host of other smaller but effective operations.” Mullen later defined the Haqqani Network as a “veritable arm” of ISI. U.S. Senator Diane Feinstein reacted to Mullen’s statements and suggested that the State Department classify the Haqqani Network as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO). In a response to the U.S. allegations, Pakistan warned that the U.S. had put the two countries’ strategic relationship at risk. Pakistan's Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar cautioned, “Anything which is said about an ally, about a partner publicly, to recriminate it, to humiliate it, is not acceptable.” Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani emphasized the importance of Pakistan to the U.S effort in Afghanistan, saying the U.S. "can't live with us. They can't live without us.” Pakistani authorities have rejected Mullen’s accusations and claim that ISI’s links to the Haqqani Network are minimal and fall short of support. Pakistani Interior Minister Rehman Malik responded to U.S. threats of action against Pakistan-based militants and warned against any incursions by U.S. forces targeting militant groups in Pakistani territory.[1]
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The American commander of NATO troops in Afghanistan, General John Allen, blamed Pakistan’s inaction for the September 10 truck bombing in Kabul that wounded 77 U.S. soldiers. According to Allen, in a meeting with Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, Allen personally asked Kayani to stop a truck filled with explosives that U.S. intelligence sources believed was destined to carry out an attack in Afghanistan. Despite Kayani’s offer to intercede, the truck passed into Afghanistan unmolested by Pakistani security forces and carried out an attack on U.S. forces in Kabul.[2]
Karachi Violence
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During a meeting on Wednesday night, COAS General Kayani spoke to industrialists and traders expressing his concern “over reports of flight of capital and closure of industries” within the city of Karachi due to continued violence. Kayani called upon the Rangers to “finalize” a security plan that would “restore Karachi’s industrial and trading activities back to normal.”[3]
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The September 19 Karachi bombing on the home of Chaudhry Aslam Khan, a senior Karachi police officer and the chief of the Crime Investigation Department (CID), which killed eight people, was reportedly targeted at the police chief’s son, according to investigators. “Intelligence agencies recorded a phone call on September 18 which mentioned targeting a Saudi’s son”; however, it was determined that the Saudi consul general’s son was not in the country. Security officials were then ordered to tighten security in places “whose names started with the letter ‘S’ or the letter ‘C.’” After the bombing at Aslam’s home, investigators came to the conclusion that “Saudi’s son” was a code phrase for Aslam’s son. Investigators did not reveal the motivation behind the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan’s (TTP) targeting of Aslam’s son.[4]
Pakistan-India Relations
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Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Khar addressed the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) on Thursday and thanked the OIC for its support on “Jammu and Kashmir,” the disputed region between Pakistan and India. Khar said, “India has shown little regard for the wishes of the Kashmiri people,” but that she was hopeful that dialogue with India would help to resolve key issues, such as the dispute over Kashmir.[5]
Iran-Pakistan Relations
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Following Tuesday’s killing of 26 Shia pilgrims in Mastung, Balochistan, Iran has closed its trade gates with Pakistan. The closing of the gates has suspended trade between the two countries for the third time this year. Iran has also deployed additional troops to the border in response to recent violence against Shias. Meanwhile, Pakistan has restricted pilgrims from travelling to Iran without proper travel documentation. Authorities have arrested 250 people in connection with Tuesday’s incident.[6]
FATA
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Two remote-controlled bomb blasts in Bajaur agency killed four people, including two tribal elders, a child, and two women on Thursday. Six people were also critically injured. The roadside bomb attacks destroyed two vehicles and caused security forces to launch a search for those responsible. The first blast hit a vehicle and a subsequent blast targeted tribesmen “gathered at the site to attend to the casualties.”[7]
Balochistan
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Two men were injured in a remote-controlled blast targeting a Frontier Corp (FC) vehicle in Quetta on Friday.[8]
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An unknown gunmen killed three people in Mach on Friday. The victims were traveling to Quetta when the assailant forced them out of their vehicle and shot them. Later, armed gunmen opened fire on a van in Quetta killing four people and injuring one other on Friday.[9]
Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa
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Security forces surrounded a suspected suicide bomber in Mingora on Thursday after receiving a tip from a militant arrested earlier in the week. A firefight erupted between militants and security forces in which one soldier and two militants were killed. The suspected suicide bomber blew himself up “in desperation” but was unable to inflict any injuries. It has been over a year since militants have struck Mingora, the district headquarters of Swat.[10]
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A roadside blast killed four suspected militants outside Peshawar late Thursday night.[11]