U.S. Treasury implements sanctions; Clinton and Rasmussen push for elimination of safe havens; Obama meets with Uzbek president to discuss new supply route to Afghanistan; APC delivers 13-point declaration, calls for unity; Rehman claims U.S. is using Haqqani Network to “destabilize” Pakistan; China withdraws $19b investment deal in light of security concerns; Drone strike kills 3 militants in South Waziristan; Miners kidnapped by armed men in Khyber agency; Top IB and police positions to be shuffled; Balochistan witnesses strike in response to murder of BNP-M leader.
U.S.-Pakistan Relations
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The U.S. Department of the Treasury placed financial sanctions on five men linked to al Qaeda, the Taliban, and the Haqqani Network operations in Pakistan and Afghanistan on Thursday. The sanctions targeted individuals linked to the Haqqani Network but stopped short of labeling the network a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO). According to Reuters, this was likely a concerted effort by Washington to reduce rising tensions with Pakistan. As one U.S. diplomat said, “the worst is over” between the two countries. Hajji Malik Noorzai, a Pakistani businessman based out of Karachi, was also included in the sanctions for providing financial support to the Taliban. On Friday, Noorzai denied U.S. allegations that he provided financial assistance to the Taliban and suggested that he was the victim of a plot by his competitors to drive him out of business.[1]
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U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called on Pakistan to eradicate the safe havens that militants enjoy along its border with Afghanistan on Thursday. Clinton also emphasized the need to improve stunted U.S.-Pakistan relations. On Friday, NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen encouraged the Pakistani government and military to increase pressure on militants in the border region. Rasmussen said, “It is really a security problem for our troops in Afghanistan that terrorists have safe havens, and that’s a fact, in Pakistan.”[2]
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President Obama met with Uzbekistan’s President, Islam Karimov, to discuss the possibility of expanding the use of Uzbekistan as a supply route for U.S. and NATO troops in Afghanistan. This move came as “the [U.S.] and Pakistan are locked in a diplomatic crisis” over U.S. accusations against Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI). The U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee reportedly passed a bill last week allowing the U.S. to lift restrictions on aid to Uzbekistan in order to shift 50 percent of what the U.S. ships to Afghanistan via supply routes in Pakistan to supply routes in Uzbekistan.[3]
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The All Parties Conference (APC) convened by Prime Minster Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani in light of U.S. allegations of links between Pakistan’s ISI and the Haqqani Network issued a 13-point “unanimous declaration” calling for unity among all of Pakistan’s political parties. The declaration rejected U.S. accusations against Pakistan, set forth a “new foreign policy,” and gave the Pakistan armed forces “full support” as the “defenders of the country’s sovereignty.” At the conference, Pakistan’s ISI spy chief Lieutenant General Ahmad Shuja Pasha denied U.S. allegations of ISI links to the Haqqani Network and highlighted the ability of the Pakistani military to respond in the case of U.S. action against Pakistan. Political leaders attending the conference said they had showed the world that “Pakistanis were united and would not compromise on national security at any cost.”[4]
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On Friday, Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam party leader, Maulvi Fazlur Rehman, alleged that the U.S. was utilizing the Haqqani Network to destabilize Pakistan. Rehman claimed that the U.S. had created the Haqqani Network and suggested that Jalaluddin Haqqani was part of the Taliban.[5]
Pakistan-China Relations
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One of Pakistan’s largest foreign investors, the coal mining company China Kingho Group, withdrew from a “$19 billion deal in southern Sindh province” on Thursday in response to growing security concerns and bombings in Pakistani cities. This withdrawal came a day after an oil and gas exploration team composed of Pakistani and Chinese surveyors came under fire, killing three security personnel.[6]
FATA
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A CIA drone strike in the Baghar Cheena border area in South Waziristan killed three suspected militants on Friday. An unnamed Pakistani security official mentioned that the militants were “not locals.”[7]
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Thirty miners from a coal mine in the Khalakhel area were kidnapped by armed men on Wednesday. In a separate incident, armed men kidnapped four additional men who were working roadside. No militant group has claimed responsibility for the kidnappings, but “local authorities suspect the involvement of the Pakistani Taliban.”[8]
Pakistani Police
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Within the next few days, a “major reshuffle is expected in the top posts of the Intelligence Bureau (IB) and police, including the slot for Director General (DG) Intelligence Bureau,” according to Express Tribune, which also indicated that openings for Inspector General (IG) will need to be filled in “Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, Balochistan, Punjab, and Sindh.”[9]
Balochistan
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Supreme Court Bar Association President Asma Jahangir condemned the Wednesday killing of Balochistan National Party-Mengal (BNP-M) leader Abudl Salam Baloch Advocate and demanded that the government apprehend the perpetrators. Jahangir said the murder of Advocate raised questions over the law and order situation in Balochistan. Meanwhile, strikes were observed in Khuzdar district on Thursday and the BNP-M party announced a 10-day mourning period for Advocate. Protests and demonstrations are expected to continue in the district throughout the weekend.[10]