Pakistan Security Brief - June 29, 2012

U.S. House members introduce legislation to designate Haqqani Network as Foreign Terrorist Organization; U.S. and NATO commanders reportedly considering raids into Pakistan; Pakistan Foreign Ministry holds briefing to stress commitment to democracy; Illegal Afghans to be deported from Pakistani tribal region; Indian Home Minister calls on Pakistan to acknowledge Sayed Zabiuddin’s role in Mumbai terror attacks; Poll says Pakistanis see India as greatest threat; Taliban denies seeking permission from Pakistan to attend peace talks in Qatar; Militant attack on tribal area fort injures three Frontier Corps members; Landmine explosion in Balochistan kills three security personnel.                

U.S.-Pakistan Relations

• On Wednesday, the chairs of the House Intelligence, Armed Services, and Foreign Affairs Committees introduced legislation asking the Obama Administration to designate the Haqqani Network as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO). The designation would make it illegal to provide material support or resources to the group. The legislation, which followed last month’s letters with the same request to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton from the House and Senate Intelligence Committees, comes as the State Department engages in its “final formal review” to designate the Haqqani Network as an FTO. According to The News, however, the State Department believes that such a designation could adversely affect peace talks between the Afghan government and the Taliban, which is closely affiliated with the Haqqani Network. Meanwhile, U.S. Treasury Undersecretary David Cohen discussed imposing financial restrictions on institutions that deal with Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) during visits with Pakistani, Indian, and Emirati officials.[1]  

• In an interview with Pakistan Television on Thursday, U.S. Ambassador to Pakistan Cameron Munter called the Salala border strike, which killed 24 Pakistani soldiers and led to Pakistan’s subsequent closing of the NATO supply route, unfortunate and stressed the need for both countries to avoid misunderstandings. On Friday, Pakistani Defence Minister Syed Naveed Qamar reiterated Pakistan’s demand for an apology from the U.S. for the Salala border strike. He also stated that U.S.-Pakistan relations would be shaped by Pakistan’s national interest, which would not be compromised.[2]

• According to AP, top U.S. and NATO commanders are considering conducting their own cross-border raids into Pakistan to target terror cells operating along the Afghan-Pakistan border. The raids are a potential response to militant groups, like the Haqqani Network, who the U.S. believes are being given safe haven and support from Pakistan. Navy Cmdr. Brook DeWalt, spokesman for the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan Gen. John Allen, stated that Allen “has not and does not intend to push for a cross-border operation.”[3]          

Afghanistan-Pakistan Relations

• In a statement posted on the Afghan Taliban’s website, the militant group denied allegations that Pakistan provided them with “permission” to send representatives to peace talks with U.S. officials in Qatar. The statement came in response to Pakistani Ambassador to Afghanistan Mohammad Sadiq’s interview with Reuters this week in which he said the government “had allowed some Taliban to travel to the Gulf.” The statement noted that the group acted independently, saying it made “decisions of its own likings in all matters and affairs in light of Islamic principles and national interests.”[4]

• Prime Minister Ashraf is scheduled to meet with Afghan President Hamid Karzai in Kabul next month to discuss a number of issues, including peace talks with the Taliban. Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar will be leading a Pakistani delegation to the Tokyo Conference on Afghanistan in July. She confirmed that Pakistan will be providing $20 million to support the Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF) with capacity building and technical assistance.[5]

• Law enforcement agencies in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa are being told to arrest and subsequently deport any illegal Afghans after a June 30 deadline. With an estimated 400,000 undocumented Afghans living in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, many of whom are allegedly involved in crime, the situation remains the “largest and most protracted refugee crisis in the world,” according to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). While the International Organisation for Migration said that Afghan and Pakistani officials may consider “safe and dignified repatriation” for 7,200 families if funding can be found, successfully reintegrating the refugees into Afghan society remains a difficult task.[6]

India-Pakistan Relations

• On Friday, Indian Home Minister P. Chidambaram said that Sayed Zabiuddin, the alleged handler of the ten gunmen responsible for the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks, “had found a very safe haven in Pakistan,” and called on Pakistan to acknowledge his involvement in the plot as well as his presence in the Karachi control room, which Chidambaram asserted could not have been set up without Pakistani state involvement.[7]

• On Wednesday, Indian Foreign Minister S.M. Krishna asked Pakistan to release all Indian nationals who are currently serving or have completed their prison terms. The request followed Thursday’s release of Surjeet Singh, the Indian national jailed on spying charges, and India’s ongoing request for the release of Sarabjeet Singh, who was sentenced to death following his alleged involvement in bombings in Punjab in the 1980s and early 1990s.[8]    

• According to a poll conducted by the Pew Research Center’s Global Attitudes Project, 59% percent of Pakistanis identified India as the country’s greatest threat, a figure higher than that of the Taliban, and 74% considered the U.S. an enemy.[9]    

International Relations

• During a Thursday meeting in Islamabad, Russian delegates offered to invest $500 million in the Central Asia South Asia (CASA) electricity import project to bring electricity from Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan to Afghanistan and Pakistan. Pakistan’s Power and Water Minister Ahmad Mukhtar also asked for Russian assistance to help modernize Pakistan’s hydroelectric plants, and later met with a delegation from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) regarding possible financial and technical assistance for Pakistan’s mega water and power projects like Bhasha Dam.[10]

Judiciary and Domestic Politics

• The Pakistani Foreign Ministry hosted a rare briefing on Friday to assuage foreign nations’ fears that the current faceoff between the Pakistani government and the Supreme Court would result in a constitutional or political crisis. Following the election of new Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf last Friday, the Supreme Court issued an order—the same one issued to former Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani—requiring him to reopen an old corruption investigation against President Asif Ali Zardari. During the briefing, Pakistan’s law and foreign ministers stated that the government had no intention of taking “radical steps” to circumvent the judiciary, and stressed the government’s commitment to strengthening democracy and maintaining an “independent judicial system.” The briefing followed Thursday’s meeting between Ashraf and his foreign minister and foreign secretary, during which he emphasized the need for Pakistan to project a soft image through public diplomacy and later remarked that, “Pakistan’s foreign policy is in safe hands.”[11]

• The Supreme Court has scheduled a hearing for the “memogate” case on July 12. Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry will lead a nine-member bench in hearing the statements of all parties in the case, including Pakistan’s former Ambassador to the U.S. Hussain Haqqani and U.S. businessman Mansoor Ijaz. A report issued by the memo commission in early June held the former Pakistani ambassador to the U.S. guilty for crafting a memo to U.S. Admiral Michael Mullen requesting American help to prevent a supposed Pakistani military coup.[12]

• Makhdoom Shahabuddin, the minister for textiles whose name was initially submitted as Gilani’s successor for the prime minister post, was granted bail by the Lahore High Court’s Rawalpindi bench on Thursday. The bail is set to expire July 3. Shahabuddin was arrested last Thursday following his alleged involvement in a scandal concerning the illegal import of the drug ephedrine during his time as health minister in 2012.[13]    

Drone Strikes

• On Friday, Chief Justice of the Peshawar High Court (PHC) Dost Muhammad Khan urged an international forum to consider the issue of drone strikes in Pakistan. Speaking in response to a petition filed by the families of victims of a March 17 drone attack, the chief justice expressed discontent with parliament’s inability to enforce a resolution that demanded an end to U.S. drone strikes in Pakistan.[14]

Militancy

• Lashkar-e-Jhangvi on Thursday claimed credit for the bus bombing in Quetta that initially killed eight and injured 20, including four policemen. A bus was transporting Shia pilgrims from the Hazara community to Taftan, Iran when a car containing 40 kilograms of explosives rammed into the bus. Lashkar-e-Jhangvi spokesman Abdu Baker, speaking to reporters via phone on Thursday night, said the attack was carried out in retaliation for attacks on a madrassa and tablighi center. Sources said the death count from the incident reached 13 on Friday as five people died in the hospital.[15]

• Heavily armed militants attacked a paramilitary fort in the area of Dhand in Hangu district, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on Friday, injuring three Frontier Corps (FC) personnel. Security forces killed four militants in retaliatory fire before seizing the machine guns and other weaponry used to carry out the attack.[16]

• On Friday, seven people were killed and one injured in separate incidents of violence across Karachi. Police found four bodies near SUPARCO road, Super Highway, Gulshan-e-Maymar, and the Ramswami area of Garden. Unknown assailants killed a man in the Sher Shah area. Four people, including a Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) activist, were also killed and another two injured on Thursday in Gulshan-e-Maymar and Machchar Colony. A teenage boy was injured when six armed men fired random shots outside of the Chakiwara police station.[17] 

• Pakistani security forces killed at least six militants in retaliatory fire after militants attacked the Karakar check post near Lower Dir district, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa.[18]

• Four security guards were injured on Thursday when a rocket hit a private bank’s cash van on Qambrani Road in Quetta, Balochistan.[19]

• Three security personnel were injured when a landmine exploded in the Mach area of Balochistan on Thursday. The landmine exploded as security personnel were checking vehicles near the Much Bridge.[20]