Pakistan Security Brief - May 25, 2012

Senate committee cuts aid to Pakistan by $33 million; Pakistani lawyers and activists challenge 33-year prison sentence for Osama bin Laden informant; Bin Laden’s wives fiercely loyal during interrogations; PPP co-chair calls on U.S. for apology; State Department report highlights human rights situation in Pakistan; Rallies across Pakistan against reopening NATO supply routes; Prime Minister Gilani calls National Assembly Speaker’s decision “victory for democracy”; Gunmen open fire on passenger bus and kill seven; Violence across Karachi leaves ten people dead; British Prime Minister observes drop in “serious terrorist plots”; Indian Secretary gives Pakistan new evidence against Hafiz Saeed; Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa government orders arrest of all illegal immigrants.        

Osama bin Laden and Fallout

• The Senate Appropriations Committee, on Thursday, approved an amendment to the foreign aid budget to trim an additional $33 million in aid to Islamabad as a “symbolic gesture” in response to the 33-year prison sentence given to Dr. Shakil Afridi, the doctor who helped U.S. forces locate Osama bin Laden. The move, according to BBC News, signaled Congress’s increasing frustration with Pakistan’s role in fighting terrorism on its territory. The committee’s initial aid cuts to Pakistan, earlier this week, came in response to a stalemate in negotiations to reopen NATO supply routes, with Pakistan demanding a fee of $5,000 per truck and the U.S. countering with $500 per truck. Intelligence Committee Chairwoman Diana Feinstein stated, “If this is how Pakistan is going to treat a friend and hero. I don’t know about these funds.” Senator Lindsey Graham, who authored the amendment, called Pakistan a “schizophrenic ally.” Secretary of State Hillary Clinton added, “We regret the fact that he was convicted and the severity of his sentence.” She also commented, “We are raising it (his case) and we will continue to do so because we think that his treatment is unjust and unwarranted.”[1]

• Legal experts and human rights activists challenged Khyber Political Agency’s verdict sentencing Afridi to 33 years in jail. Lawyers from the Federally Administered Tribal Areas as well as members of the Aman Tehreek submitted an application to the commissioner of the Frontier Crimes Regulation (FCR) seeking to empower Afridi with an attorney. They have also requested the political administration’s order sentencing Afridi, and called Section 121 “(waging war against the state)” of the Pakistani Penal Code (PPC) “completely wrong.”[2]

• A Pakistani intelligence agent revealed that Osama bin Laden’s three wives—following their arrest by Pakistani security forces after the Navy SEAL raid—were fiercely loyal to bin Laden and provided little information to him during interrogations. The youngest of the three expressed anger when asked questions, while the other two remained mostly silent during questioning. The intelligence agent did not comment on whether Pakistani and U.S. officials also questioned the wives, but he did put bin Laden’s presence in Pakistan at 6 or 7 years, based on weekly questioning of the women. He further noted that Pakistani authorities had seized some computers and cell phones from the Abbottabad compound but had thus far obtained little information from them. A Pakistani court had sentenced the three widows to prison, after which they and bin Laden’s 11 children were deported to Saudi Arabia.[3]

U.S.-Pakistan Relations

• On Thursday, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, co-chairman of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), called on the U.S. to apologize for the November border strike that killed 24 Pakistani soldiers. He stated, “I think that an immediate apology was the humane, appropriate thing to do.” He acknowledged that relations with the U.S. had “deteriorated over the last year” but was hopeful they would rebound. He also commented on U.S. anger over the 33-year prison sentence for Shakil Afridi stating, “Whether I want him out or not is irrelevant. I can’t put pressure on the judiciary to decide either way.”[4]

• The State Department released its annual report on human rights, pointing out incidents of extrajudicial killings, torture, and disappearances carried out by Pakistani security forces and militants. The report highlighted an increasing number of religious freedom violations, such as the anti-blasphemy laws, and singled out violence and unrest in Balochistan—a sensitive issue following Baloch rebels’ uprising in 2004 demanding greater political autonomy and a share of the region’s resources.[5]    

• In response to a proposed Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline, U.S. State Department Spokesperson Victoria Nuland on Wednesday stated, “We don’t think it’s a good idea.” She continued, “We don’t think it’s a reliable route for Pakistan. We’ve also continued to have conversations about diversifying supply and other ways to do that.”[6]   

NATO Supply Routes

• The Difa-e-Pakistan Council (DPC) held demonstrations and rallies on Friday, protesting the possible reopening of the NATO supply routes. The DPC, composed of various religious and political parties, organized protests in Karachi, Hyderabad, Mirpurkhas, Larkana, Sukkur, and Lahore. Rally leaders, like Jamaat-e-Islami member Muhammad Hussain Mehanti, asserted that that U.S. had become a threat to regional security, and expressed fears that missing NATO containers possibly containing armaments may now be in the possession of “anti-social elements” in Karachi and Balochistan.[7]

Domestic Politics

• According to Prime Minister Gilani, National Assembly Speaker Fehmida Mirza’s decision that Gilani cannot be disqualified from office, and her refusal to forward the reference against Gilani to the Election Commission of Pakistan, is a “victory for democracy.”[8]

• While opposition party Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) criticized the National Assembly Speaker for ruling in favor of the prime minister, the Pakistan Peoples Party’s allied parties such as the FATA parliamentarians and the Awami National Party supported the speaker’s decision, and the Muttahida Qaumi Movement refused to comment on the issue.[9]

• Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, son of President Asif Ali Zardari, said on Thursday that former president Pervez Musharraf “purposely sabotaged” the security around the convoy of his mother, former prime minister Benazir Bhutto’s, so that “she would be eliminated.” Bilawal, who is the head of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), added that he hopes to take a “larger role” in Pakistan’s political life.[10]

Drone Strikes

• Additional details concerning Thursday’s drone attacks in North Waziristan were released. A Pakistani security official said a drone fired two missiles, hitting a house in Hasso Khel, a town east of Miram Shah. A senior military official reported that “at least eight militants” died in the strike. Local officials further said that three worshippers were fatally wounded when a nearby mosque was also damaged.[11]   

Militancy

• At least seven people were killed and three were injured on Friday, when four gunmen boarded a passenger bus and opened fire at Rinn Shakh, near the town of Qazi Ahmed in Shaheed Benazirabad district. AFP reported on the suspicion that two of the gunmen were passengers on the bus who asked the driver to stop the bus at Rinn Shakh, where their accomplices were waiting on motorcycles. According to varying eyewitness accounts, the attackers were taking revenge for an attack on an Awami Tehrik rally in Karachi, or for the murder of a Jeay Sindh Muttahida Mahaz leader. The police stated that the incident appeared to be a failed robbery attempt.[12]

• Ten people have been killed in different incidents of violence across Karachi in the past 24 hours. A body bearing torture marks was found near Korangi’s Zaman Town area, but police have not yet identified the body. Two people were killed in firing incidents in Karachi’s Bilal Colony and Sharfabad areas. On Thursday, seven people, including two PPP workers and a party activist’s son were shot and killed in separate incidents across the city. Law enforcement agencies detained 11 suspects in the areas of Lyari, Baldia and Gulberg.[13]

• On Wednesday, twenty people were injured when unidentified assailants threw a petrol bomb into the crowd at a concert celebrating the death anniversary of a Muslim saint known as “Bharri Shah Rehman” in the town of Nowshera Virkan, Gujranwala district. The police registered a case against eight members of a religious group, which had threatened to attack the musical program, but they have not yet disclosed the identity of the group.[14]

• The body of Assistant Sub-Inspector Muhammad Ayub, who was kidnapped on Sunday, was found in the Choko area of Awaran district, Balochistan.[15]

Dual Nationality Case

• In Friday’s hearing of a dual nationality case, Pakistan’s Supreme Court suspended the National Assembly membership of Farahnaz Ispahani, the wife of former ambassador to the U.S. Hussain Haqqani. The court expressed concern over Ispahani’s U.S. citizenship, stating that Ispahani’s loyalties would be divided, and the U.S. could force her to spy on Pakistan.[16]

International Relations

• While speaking at the House of Commons, British Prime Minister David Cameron stated that the percentage of “serious terrorist plots against Britain” with “links to Afghanistan and Pakistan” has dropped from 75 percent three years ago to the current 50 percent.[17]

• Indian Interior Secretary R K Singh told the media on Thursday that India has “given new evidence to Pakistan” regarding Jamaat-ud-Dawa leader Hafiz Saeed’s involvement in the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks. The secretary added that India was not satisfied with Pakistan’s investigation into the attacks, and viewed Pakistan’s judicial proceedings regarding the attacks as very slow. Singh is in Islamabad participating in secretary-level talks focused on cooperation between the two countries on issues regarding security and drug trafficking.[18]

Illegal Immigrants

• The Express Tribune reported that the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa government has ordered the provincial police to arrest all foreigners who fail to produce valid documents permitting them to legally reside in Pakistan. On April 25, District Coordination Officer (DCO) Siraj Ahmad Khan had given all illegal immigrants a one-month deadline, stating that all foreigners lacking valid visas would be arrested beginning May 25. Feroz Shah, Public Relations Officer to the DCO, said that a number of foreigners had been arrested following the expiration of the one month deadline, and that most of them were Afghan refugees.[19]