Drone strikes kill 16 in South Waziristan; Militants target security forces; Peace committee targeted in suicide attack; IED kills one police officer in KP; Girls to complete education following school bombing; Militants destroy a NATO container in Mastung district; Balochistan denies foreign mining applications; Pakistan summons Ambassador to U.S.; Pakistan and India work toward trade expansion; Pakistan to implement India’s MFN status by February 2012; German Foreign Minister to visit Islamabad; PPP to fight Qureshi allegations; Chinese woman pleads guilty to conspiring to ship nuclear materials.
Drone Strikes
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Two U.S. drone strikes killed 16 suspected militants on Tuesday night in the Babar area of Sara Rogha sub-district, South Waziristan. The drones reportedly fired six missiles at two militant compounds, killing at least two Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) militants.[1]
FATA
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On Tuesday night, 60 militants attacked a Pakistan Army check post in central Kurram agency, killing an army major. Security forces conducted a retaliatory attack, killing 20 militants and destroying nine militant hideouts in an aerial assault. Meanwhile, militants fired rockets at a military convoy in Ghaljo sub-district, Orakzai agency, injuring one soldier.[2]
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A vehicle carrying members of an anti-Taliban militia was targeted by a roadside bomb in Tirah, Khyber agency on Wednesday. An anti-Taliban militia leader was killed along with five of his family members, while two other people sustained critical injuries.[3]
Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa
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An improvised explosive device (IED) killed one police officer and injured another at a police check post in Shabqadar sub-district, Charsadda district.[4]
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Reuters reports on a group schoolgirls determined to continue its studies following the Sunday bombing of a government girls school in Swabi as part of the Pakistani Taliban’s campaign to deter girls from receiving an education.[5]
Balochistan
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On Tuesday, a NATO container truck was set ablaze by armed gunmen on a motorbike in Mastung district, injuring the truck’s driver.[6]
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Balochistan’s provincial government declined the “mining lease application[s]” of a Chilean copper company, Antofagasta, and Canadian gold company, Barrick Gold, at the Reko Diq gold mine, “potentially [denying Balochistan] a source of much needed inward investment.”[7]
U.S.-Pakistan Relations
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Pakistan has reportedly recalled its Ambassador to the U.S., Hussain Haqqani, for a “routine” visit to Islamabad. However, speculation abounds that the visit, which comes in the “midst of the high-temperature controversy created by…Mansoor Ijaz,” the U.S.-based businessman who allegedly delivered an “incriminating memo” from President Asif Ali Zardari to former U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Admiral Mike Mullen, may have been recalled by the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) leadership. Meanwhile, on Tuesday, sources reported that Zardari had assured Chief of Army Staff General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani that an investigation into the letter had been launched.[8]
Pakistan-India Relations
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Upon returning from a trip to the Maldives, Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani called recent Pakistan-India meetings successful. Gilani reiterated the desire of both countries to pursue “good relations” as well as continued dialogue “to enhance efforts to expand trade relations” between Pakistan and India.[9]
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Pakistan’s Commerce Secretary Zafar Mahmood and Indian Commerce Secretary Rahul Khullar recently concluded two days of discussions in New Delhi, resulting in a proposed timeline for the “operationalization” of India’s Most Favored Nation (MFN) status and the “obliteration of trading lists” between the two countries. The two nations expect MFN status to be in full effect by February 2012.[10]
Bonn Conference
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Germany’s Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle is scheduled to arrive in Islamabad on Thursday, ahead of December’s Bonn Conference to address the future of Afghanistan. Westerwelle is expected to meet with General Kayani, in addition to President Zardari, in an effort to gain Pakistani support for the conference.[11]
Pakistani Politics
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Sources within the PPP report that the party has “decided to ‘vigorously’ counter allegations leveled by former [Foreign Minister] Shah Mehmood Qureshi” against President Zardari and the Pakistani government. Earlier in the week, Qureshi alleged that President Zardari “forced” him to grant CIA contractor Raymond Davis diplomatic immunity.[12]
Nuclear Reactor
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On Tuesday, a Chinese woman residing in Northern California pleaded guilty to “conspiring to ship material for a Pakistani nuclear reactor.” The woman reportedly facilitated three shipments of “high-performance epoxy coatings” to Pakistan and conspired to send additional shipments to Pakistan’s Chashma II nuclear reactor.[13]