Osama bin Laden informant Shakil Afridi convicted for militancy ties; Safety concerns prompt officials to request Afridi’s transfer; Pentagon calls drone strikes “lawful and precise;” Taliban spokesman says Haqqani Network founder alive; Balochistan police arrest seven militants smuggling explosives; “Target killing” incidents in Karachi leave five dead; Pakistan successfully tests short-range missile; India negotiates oil shipments to Pakistan; Indian officials accuse Pakistani intelligence of planning “high value terror attacks” in India; China urges international community to recognize Pakistan’s counterterrorism efforts; UN official criticizes Pakistan’s blasphemy laws.
Osama bin Laden Informant
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Dr. Shakil Afridi, the doctor who helped the CIA locate Osama bin Laden, was convicted for charges related to supporting militancy within Pakistan—rather than collaborating with the CIA as was originally reported—according to the court verdict made available on Wednesday. The verdict, issued by a court in the Khyber tribal region of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), noted that Afridi had, in fact, acted with foreign intelligence agencies in the bin Laden raid, but due to lack of jurisdiction, the court could not charge him on the matter. Instead, the court found him guilty of “anti-state activities,” which included giving Lashkar-e-Islam, a banned terror group, $22,000; providing its commanders with medical care; and holding meetings with group members prior to attacks on government targets. Additionally, the court recommended that Afridi be tried by relevant court for his involvement with foreign intelligence agencies. Although the Joint Investigation Team’s evidence linking Afridi to foreign agencies was not admissible in the tribal court, the evidence could be used to try Afridi for treason in another court. If found guilty of treason, Afridi could face the death penalty.[1]
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Human rights lawyers and activists defending Afridi attacked the tribal court’s use of the Frontier Crimes Regulation (FCR). Under the FCR, a set of laws different from those followed in the rest of Pakistan, cases are decided by a group of elders, and defendants are unable to present evidence or have access to an attorney. Activists also argued that the laws did not apply to Afridi, whose alleged crimes took place outside the tribal areas. On Wednesday, Pakistani officials requested that Afridi be transferred to a more secure prison from Peshawar Central Jail, expressing fears that he could be killed by “diehard militants” also incarcerated in the same prison. The prison is said to contain 3,000 prisoners, 250 of which were sentenced on terror charges. [2]
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Senator Rand Paul, a Republican from Kentucky and leader of the Tea Party movement, called for the U.S. to suspend all aid to Pakistan until Afridi’s sentence was overturned and for Afridi to be granted U.S. citizenship. Two U.S. officials stated that Afridi, during the time of the Navy SEAL raid on bin Laden’s Abbottabad compound, turned down multiple offers to leave Pakistan and resettle overseas with his family. Refuting accusations by Pakistani officials describing Afridi as corrupt and a womanizer, Dr. Fuwad Khan, director general of health services in the tribal belt, stated, “There was no complaint against him on the record.”[3]
Drone Strikes
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During a press briefing at the Pentagon on Tuesday, Department of Defense spokesperson George Little said that U.S. drone strikes are “lawful and precise” and are conducted within the confines of U.S. law and policy.[4]
Domestic Politics
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On Tuesday, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani said that opposition parties had undermined parliament and its supremacy by challenging in the Supreme Court the National Assembly Speaker’s ruling that Gilani could stay in office.[5]
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President Asif Ali Zardari on Wednesday signed the National Commission for Human Rights Bill authorizing the creation of a human rights commission. The commission is tasked with holding accountable any institution for human rights violations. Two weeks earlier, Human Rights Watch asked Zardari to hold off on signing the bill until the commission was given the authority to also try the military and intelligence agencies.[6]
Haqqani Network
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Speaking to AFP on Wednesday, Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid strongly dismissed reports that Jalaluddin Haqqani, the founder of the Haqqani Network, had died. Tolo, an Afghan TV station, had alleged that Jalaluddin had died from kidney disease and claimed on its Twitter feed that the Taliban had confirmed it.[7]
Militancy
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Police in Balochistan intercepted two explosive-laden vehicles and arrested seven suspected militants, as they were attempting to smuggle explosive materials from Zhob district, Balochistan to Kuchlak, a town near the provincial capital, Quetta.[8]
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Five people were killed and a civil judge was wounded on Wednesday in incidents of “target killing” in Karachi. On Wednesday morning, a senior civil judge was severely injured when unidentified gunmen on motorcycles opened fired on his car. In a separate incident at Aslam Shaheed Chowk in Karachi’s Orangi town, unknown assailants on motorcycles shot and killed two people. The third incident involved a robbery in Hazara Colony, in which the robbers opened fire, killing one man.[9]
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The Express Tribune reported Wednesday that the Airport Security Force, acting on a tip-off, arrested an armed man on board a flight to Muscat, Oman at Karachi’s Jinnah International Airport. Officials apprehended the man identified as Iftikhar Ali, an aircraft engineer with the Pakistan International Airlines, and recovered a pistol with six bullets from his possession.[10]
Nuclear Missile Test
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The Pakistani military’s Inter Services Public Relations said in a statement issued on Tuesday that Pakistan had successfully test-fired a nuclear capable Hatf IX (NASR) missile. The Hatf IX NASR is a short-range missile capable of carrying conventional warheads 37 miles with high accuracy. Lieutenant General Khalid Ahmed Kidwai, the Director General of the army’s Strategic Plans Division, said the successful test would help to maintain deterrence capabilities and ensure peace in the region.[11]
Indo-Pakistani Relations
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Indian and Pakistani civil servants began negotiations on Tuesday for an agreement to transport oil from India into Islamabad in an effort to alleviate the energy crisis in Pakistan. The official said the Pakistani government was seeking to import diesel and furnace oil through the Wagah border. However, the Express Tribune reported that Pakistan is reluctant to import diesel from India and has possibly refused to do so because of security concerns. According to an official, “if Pakistan relies on India for high-speed diesel and jet fuel, there is a threat to the country’s security if supplies are withheld for any reason.” The petroleum ministries of both countries plan to meet again in the first week of July in New Delhi to discuss issues related to quantity and price.[12]
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Indian intelligence agencies claim to have credible information connecting the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) Directorate to a plot to carry out “high value terror attacks in [India].” Officials accused the ISI of attempting to use the Indian Mujahidin, an Islamist terrorist group credited with killing nearly 500 people in over ten blasts throughout India, to create an environment of fear and insecurity in the country, which could hurt current and future foreign investment opportunities. The Deccan Chronicle reported that Indian intelligence agencies believe Yaseen Bhatkal, the chief of the Indian Mujahidin, has been tasked with carrying out the operation.[13]
Sino-Pakistani Relations
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At a joint news conference with Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar on Tuesday, Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi urged the international community to recognize the “huge sacrifices” and “huge contributions” that Pakistan has made in the fight against terrorism and give Pakistan “whole-hearted support.” Jiechi is leading a high-level Chinese delegation in talks with Pakistan’s president, prime minister, foreign minister and army chief to advance long-term strategic partnerships between Pakistan and China.[14]
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Chinese oil and gas company United Energy Group Ltd, which paid British Petroleum $775 million for oil and gas assets in Pakistan in 2010, said on Wednesday that it plans to invest $3 billion in a wind farm project in Pakistan. The company said that it has already obtained approval from the Pakistani government to build a wind power project with a capacity of 500 megawatts.[15]
Balochistan
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Prime Minister Gilani, on Tuesday, held high-level meetings to discuss the issue of insecurity and missing persons in Balochistan. The meeting – attended by Balochistan’s governor Nawab Zulfiqar Magsi and Chief Minister Nawab Aslam Raisani, the federal ministers, Chief of the Army Staff Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani and Director General of ISI Lt. Gen. Muhammad Zaheerul Islam – came days after the Supreme Court Bar Association issued a statement implicating the Frontier Corps (FC) in more than 80 percent of disappearance cases in the province. According to Information Minister Qamar Zaman Kaira, the meeting resulted in the creation of a six-member committee to engage in weekly dialogue with political parties, nationalist groups, and other groups in an effort to further address operational, developmental, administrative, legal, political and financial aspects related to instability in Balochistan. The Information Minister further added that General Kayani threw his support behind a plan to place the provincial administration, led by Chief Minister Raisani, in control of FC deployments in the province.[16]
NATO Supply Lines
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Despite their anger following the Salala border strike that killed 24 Pakistani soldiers, thousands of Pakistani truckers support the reopening of NATO supply lines. Pakistani truckers make $215-$269 per trip transporting NATO equipment and supplies. A senior member of the All Pakistan Oil Tankers Association, Shafiq Kakar blamed the ongoing diplomatic impasse on wrangling over money “at every level."[17]