U.S. drone strikes kill 7 in Waziristan; Pakistan cautions U.S. on use of drone strikes; U.S. troops in Afghanistan witness increase in Pakistan-based rocket attacks; Details of secret meeting between Obama advisor and Kayani revealed; Riedel advises U.S. to “contain” Pakistan Army; Pakistan voices frustration over Pakistani Taliban leader; Two killed in cross border rocket attack; Police kill LI militant; Prosecution of terror suspects “flawed in Punjab”; Court suspends sentence of policemen witness to lynching of teens; ANP accuses NATO of Saturday flight in Pakistani airspace; Malik identifies LeJ as source of unrest in Balochistan; Balochistan Provincial Minister escapes assassination attempt; PMA president killed in Quetta; Security forces kill 10 militants in Orakzai; Police foil terror plot; Taseer “still alive,” says Malik; Al Qaeda and TTP kidnapping plot foiled.
Drone Strikes
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Pakistani intelligence officials have confirmed the deaths of three Egyptians with suspected ties to the Haqqani Network in a Friday drone strike in Miram Shah, North Waziristan. One of the men, who was identified as Nadeem, was responsible for managing the Haqqani Network’s finances. On Saturday, the week’s fourth U.S. drone strike killed three militants who were allegedly connected to the militant leader Maulvi Nazir in Baghar, South Waziristan. The “more aggressive approach” taken by the U.S. toward the Haqqani Network, marked by an increase in drone strikes, was authorized by President Obama at a National Security Council meeting held on September 29, where U.S. military officials discussed their options in dealing with the Haqqani Network. The options discussed included diplomacy, the “possibility of a [U.S.] ground operation,” and drone strikes on the network’s headquarters in Miram Shah. Saturday’s drone strike was the 300th since the U.S. launched CIA drone strikes in Pakistan in June 2004, according to the London-based Bureau of Investigative Journalism.[1]
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In response to last week’s U.S. drone strikes, Pakistan’s Defense Minister Ahmed Mukhtar warned the U.S. that it “must not test [Pakistan’s] patience on drones” and announced that Pakistan would be unveiling a “revised policy on drone attacks” in the near future. Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Minister for Information, Iftikhar Hussain, also warned the U.S. that continued drone strikes were only causing the “common man” to sympathize with terrorism and militancy, saying that lasting regional peace could only be achieved by “confidence-building and intelligence-sharing” measures between the U.S., Pakistan, and Afghanistan.[2]
U.S.-Pakistan Relations
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U.S. troops in Afghanistan have witnessed a sharp increase in rocket attacks emanating from Pakistan in the last six months, leading many U.S. military officers to suspect Pakistan military involvement in the attacks, according to The New York Times. While Pakistan has denied the allegations, U.S. troops say that many of the 55 rocket attacks launched from within Pakistan during the past six months have “come from positions next to Pakistani military or Frontier Corps (FC) border posts,” making it likely that there is some level of complicity by the Pakistani military in these attacks.[3]
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The details of a secret meeting between President Obama’s National Security Adviser, Thomas Donilon, and Pakistan’s Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani in Saudi Arabia have been revealed. In the meeting, Donilion reportedly “offered Kayani three choices” to deal with the Haqqani Network, which included killing Haqqani Network leadership, helping the U.S. kill Haqqani Network leadership, or persuading the Haqqani Network “to join a peaceful, democratic Afghan government.”[4]
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In a Friday article in The New York Times, Bruce Riedel, an advisor to Obama on South Asia, recommended that the U.S. take measures to contain the ambitions of the Pakistan Army “until real civilian rule returns and Pakistani set a new direction for their foreign policy.” Riedel accused Pakistani generals of encouraging and tolerating terrorists within Pakistan and cautioned the U.S. from relying on the Pakistani Army to protect U.S. interests.[5]
Afghanistan-Pakistan Relations
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On Monday, Pakistan Army spokesman Major General Athar Abbas voiced his frustration over the repeated failure of the Afghanistan government and U.S. forces to locate Pakistani Taliban cleric Maulvi Fazlullah. Fazlullah, who is based in Kunar and Nuristan, Afghanistan, has been responsible for a series of cross-border raids that have “killed about 100 members of Pakistan’s security forces.” Meanwhile, Pakistan’s Interior Minister Rehman Malik articulated the country’s desire to engage the Pakistani Taliban in peace talks as the Pakistan Army continues to reject international pressure to conduct a military operation against the militant group.[6]
Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa
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Two people were killed on Saturday when Afghan militants engaged in a cross-border attack, firing five mortars into the village of Kharkai in Lower Dir.[7]
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Around 15 Khyber agency-based militants attacked a Peshawar police check post on Friday, resulting in the death of one militant, according to a police official. The official identified the militants as members of the banned militant group Lashkar-e-Islam (LI).[8]
Punjab
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During the past twenty years, “three out of every four terrorism suspects arrested in [Punjab] province” have been set free by the courts, according to statistics gathered by the provincial government. Punjab’s chief public prosecutor, Chaudhry Muhammad Jahangir, cited three major problems in prosecuting suspects of terrorism: the “lack of witness protection, defective investigations, and [a] lack of forensic and other technology that would aid the investigation process.”[9]
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The Lahore High Court (LHC) has “suspended the sentences awarded to eight policemen” who stood by as two teens were lynched last year in Sailkot.[10]
Balochistan
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During a Balochistan Assembly session on Monday, the Awami National Party (ANP) accused the U.S. and NATO forces of violating Pakistani airspace. ANP Parliamentary leader, Provincial Minister Zamurk Khan, told the assembly that NATO aircraft had made a “20 minute low flight in the area” of Qila Abdullah on Saturday and demanded that the Pakistani government “raise the issue with NATO officials and the U.S.” to “prevent the U.S. from infringing [on] the sovereignty of Pakistan.”[11]
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On Friday, Interior Minister Malik identified the militant group Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ) as the source of unrest in Balochistan. Malik asserted that “the police and the Frontier Constabulary were acting against terrorist elements” in an attempt to end the “sit-in” of National Assembly member Nasir Ali Shah outside of parliament.[12]
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Balochistan Provincial Minister and Chief of the Jalawan, Sardar Sanaullah Zehri, escaped an assassination attempt on Friday when his convoy was targeted by a roadside improvised explosive device (IED). The Baloch Liberation Front (BLF), which claimed the attack, vowed that it “would target Zehri again following its failed attempt.” Meanwhile, the Human Rights Commission Pakistan (HRCP), Balochistan chapter protested Balochistan unrest in the provincial capital on Saturday by staging a march.[13]
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Dr. Mazar Baloch, President of the Pakistan Medical Association (PMA) Balochistan chapter, died on Saturday after being targeted by unidentified assailants in Quetta on Friday. Doctors throughout the city observed a strike on Saturday to protest Baloch’s murder.[14]
FATA
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Pakistan Air Force jets bombed “terrorist sanctuaries” in lower Orakzai agency on Saturday, killing 10 militants and injuring another four, according to security officials. Taliban spokesman Hafiz Saeed denied the report.[15]
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Security forces “foiled a terror plot” on Friday after raiding the house of a suspected militant in the Gira Bukhsha area of Dera Ismail Khan and recovering a cache of arms, ammunition, and explosives.[16]
Kidnapping
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During a Monday address, Interior Minister Malik indicated that Shahbaz Taseer, son of slain Punjabi Governor Salman Taseer, is still alive and being held captive in the Afghanistan-Pakistan border region of North Waziristan.[17]
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Security officials have taken precautionary measures after learning of an al Qaeda and Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) plot to kidnap Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari during a visit to Sindh in December in memory of his mother, slain Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto.[18]