Pakistan Security Brief - December 13, 2011

U.S. freezes $700 million in aid to Pakistan; Pakistani officials consider taxing NATO oil tankers; U.S. suspends drone campaign in Pakistan; Washington Post chronicles political emergence of Zardari’s son; Meeting of key Pakistani ambassadors continues for second day; Khan postpones PTI press conference due to party clash; 50 students freed from abuse in Karachi madrassa; Militants kill six in Shalobar; IDPs protest ongoing military operation in Khyber agency; Three mutilated bodies found in Khuzdar; KP Chief Minister charges U.S. and NATO with harboring militants; Militants and security forces clash in Hangu district.

U.S.-Pakistan Relations

• On Monday, a U.S. congressional panel froze $700 million in aid to Pakistan pending greater Pakistani assistance in preventing the illicit distribution of fertilizer used in homemade bombs. Currently, ammonium nitrate, a common fertilizer produced primarily in two Pakistani factories owned by Pakarab, is easily smuggled across the Afghanistan-Pakistan border and used to construct improvised explosion devices (IEDs). The U.S. has contributed over $20 billion in aid to Pakistan since 2001, but recent efforts made by U.S. lawmakers have sought to make aid contingent upon greater Pakistani counterterrorism cooperation. On Tuesday, chairman of Pakistan's Senate foreign relations committee Salim Saifullah  warned that Congress’s decision could be counterproductive. “I don’t think this is a wise move. It could hurt ties. There should instead be efforts to increase cooperation. I don’t see any good coming out of this,” Saifullah said.[1]

• Pakistani officials informed BBC on Monday that they are considering a proposal to levy millions in annual taxes on NATO supply convoys traveling through Pakistan. NATO supply routes through Pakistan are vital to the U.S. and NATO war effort in Afghanistan but have been blocked since the November 26 NATO raid that resulted in the deaths of 24 Pakistani soldiers.[2]

• Unnamed U.S. intelligence officials involved in the CIA’s drone campaign in Afghanistan and Pakistan announced on Tuesday that the U.S. has placed its operations in Pakistan “on hold” in light of “fragile” bilateral relations between the two countries since the November 26 NATO raid.  According to one of the officials, the U.S. is concerned that a continued drone campaign in Pakistan’s tribal areas could “push U.S.-Pakistan relations past the point of no return.” Meanwhile, a Pakistani military official stated that the U.S. departure from Shamsi Airbase in Balochistan will have “little impact” on the CIA drone campaign. U.S. Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta later expressed hope that U.S.-Pakistan relations could be restored, emphasizing that it would be “difficult [for the U.S.] to win the war in Afghanistan without Pakistan’s assistance.”[3]

Pakistani Politics

• The Washington Post profiled Bilawar Bhutto Zardari, son of Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari.  The younger Zardari has been thrust into the political spotlight following his father’s transient ischemic attack (TIA) and subsequent convalescence in Dubai. Pakistani analysts have suggested that Bilwar’s emergence on the political scene represents an attempt by Zardari to signal that, in his absence, the political future of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) can be entrusted to his son.[4]

• Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar met with fifteen Pakistani ambassadors from “key world capitals” on the second day of the Envoys Conference to review Pakistan’s foreign policy in the wake of the November 26 NATO raid that resulted in the deaths of 24 Pakistani soldiers.  Khar said that Pakistan would “retaliate against all future [U.S. or NATO] attacks.” Khar also announced that foreign policy recommendations from the ambassadors delivered at the conclusion of the meeting would be delivered to Parliament. 

• Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf (PTI) chief Imran Khan was forced to postpone a “scheduled press conference” on Monday following a “clash” between two PTI factions.  The groups reportedly threw “eggs, chairs, and other office equipment at each other.” No injuries were reported.[5]

Torture Madrassa

• Police freed approximately 50 students Monday from a religious school in Karachi where they had been chained and frequently beaten. The children alleged that Taliban members visited the madrassa and encouraged their future participation in jihad. According to parents of the children, the madrassa was known locally as a rehabilitation center for drug addicts and criminals that charged substantial sums for “enrollment.” Karachi police arrested five men involved in running the school on Tuesday. Sindh Governor Ishratul Ebad has launched a formal inquiry to investigate the madrassa’s human rights violations and potential links to militant groups.[6]

FATA

• Militants opened fire on a crowd of civilians in Shalobar, Khyber agency on Tuesday killing five people and injuring six others. According to an intelligence official in Khyber, local villagers had recently assisted in a paramilitary operation launched against militants in the area. In a separate incident in Shalobar, seven people, including two children and three women, were injured when a mortar struck their home.[7]

• Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) from Bara sub-district protested Monday against the two-year military operation against militants in Khyber agency that has resulted in civilian casualties and left thousands homeless.  Bara sub-district IDPs have asked the Pakistani government to “provide financial assistance for their rehabilitation” and formed a movement called Tehrik-e-Mutasireen Bara to raise awareness of their grievances.[8]

Balochistan

• The bullet-riddled bodies of three Balochistan National Party (BNP) activists were discovered in Khuzdar on Tuesday. According to the International Voice for Baloch Missing Persons, 250 mutilated bodies have been discovered over the past 15 months in Balochistan.[9]

Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa

• Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Ameer Haider Khan Hoti charged U.S. and NATO forces with providing refuge to former Swat militants on the Afghan side of the Afghanistan-Pakistan border.[10]

• Armed militants kidnapped two police officials from Karbogha, Hangu district on Monday, resulting in a four-hour long firefight between eight militants and police officials attempting to recover the kidnapped officers.  Three police officials and one civilian were killed during the firefight.  All of the militants managed to escape, as did the kidnapped police officials.[11]