Police arrest TTP chief Qari Saeed; Interior Ministry declared high alert across Pakistan on Tuesday; Unknown assailants attack provincial minister’s house in Quetta; Four Shiites killed in Quetta sectarian attack;Rehman Malik offers $1 million for the TTP spokesman; TTP claims Malala attack justified; Doctors impressed with Malala’s strength and resilience; Zardari calls the TTP attack on Malala an attack on all girls in the country; Conference urges Ulema to take stand against terrorism; Russia will not sell arms to Pakistan; Indian army accuses Pakistanis of firing into Indian Kashmir; Pakistani Ambassador urges UN to consider all members’ security concerns in disarmament negotiations; Zardari urges trade liberalization among ECO members; Zardari meets with Turkish PM Erdogan; Seven killed in Karachi violence; 154 parliamentarians suspended for not submitting details on their assets.
Militant Activity
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Police arrested Qari Saeed on Tuesday, chief of the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan’s (TTP) Orakzai chapter. Saeed was apprehended in a raid in the Banda Nabi village of Pabbi Tehsil, Nowshera.[i]
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Reacting to information in recent intelligence reports, the National Crisis Management Cell (NCMC) of the Interior Ministry declared high alert across Pakistan on Tuesday. According to intelligence reports, factions of the TTP have planned various attacks throughout the country, including attacks in Islamabad and Rawalpindi. The reports claim that 15 terrorists, under the direction of a former Afghan National Army (ANA) commander, have entered Pakistan and are planning to attack check posts, schools and other targets. After threats were made by the TTP to target the media, Interior Minister Rehman Malik said that security has been provided to different news organizations and anchorpersons. The reports gave information suggesting that the TTP may target the founder of Lashkar-e-Taiba Hafiz Saeed as well.[ii]
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Unknown attackers opened fire on Quetta Provincial Minister for Food Asfandyar Kakar’s house on Monday. Levies Force security personnel deployed to the scene and two attackers were killed in an exchange of fire. One Levies trooper was killed as well. Police have launched an investigation as it was not immediately clear why the gunmen attacked Kakar’s home.[iii]
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Unidentified assailants killed four Shias in a sectarian attack in Quetta on Tuesday. All the victims were junk- and scrap-shop owners in Kabarhi Market.[iv]
Malala Yousafzai
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Pakistan’s interior minister Rehman Malik offered a $1 million bounty for TTP spokesman Ehsanullah Ehsan on Monday. Malik also traveled to Malala’s school on Tuesday and announced that she is to be awarded the Sitara-e-Shujaat for standing up against the Pakistani Taliban. He visited the two girls who were injured in the attack as well and awarded them money. An online petition demanding the government apprehend Malala’s attackers and end ties with the Taliban had more than 10,000 signatures on Monday.[v]
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In a statement made on Tuesday, the Pakistani Taliban again claimed that their attack on Malala Yousafzai was justified under Islam. They called her a “spy of the West,” arguing that Islam obliged the killing of anyone “spying for enemies” or “propagating against Islam and Islamic forces.”[vi]
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After being transferred to the United Kingdom on Monday, the medical director at Malala Yousafzai’s new hospital said doctors are “impressed with her strength and resilience.” Malala has reportedly made good progress, but has a ways to go, according to one of the attending doctors.[vii]
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In an economic summit in the Azerbaijani capital Baku on Tuesday, President Asif Ali Zardari called the shooting of Malala Yousafzai an “attack on all girls in the country and on civilization itself.” Zardari went on to praise Malala’s belief in education for young girls, and said that these attacks would not deter Pakistan’s determination to “continue her shining cause.”[viii]
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A conference organized by Citizens for Democracy in Lahore on Tuesday urged Pakistan’s religious scholars to step up their efforts to educate the public on the true meaning of Islam to prevent the religion from being misrepresented and abused by terrorists. Conference speakers reiterated that girls’ education was not against Islam, and that religious clerics had a duty to “disown” attacks such as that perpetrated against Malala Yousafzai as un-Islamic. They added that everyone was responsible for carrying Malala’s vision forward, and that mere condemnation of the attack would not be enough.[ix]
Russo-Indo-Pakistani Relations
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Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin said on Saturday that Russia would not sell any arms to Pakistan in the interest of preserving its relationship with India. Rogozin affirmed that “[Russia] was always cooperating with India to ensure the safety of the region…We don’t do military business with [India’s] enemies. We don’t transfer any arms to them.”[x]
Indo-Pak Relations
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Indian army officials have accused Pakistani forces of firing across the disputed border into Indian Kashmir and killing three civilians on Tuesday. Allegedly, Pakistani forces fired mortars into the Uri sector but Indian forces did not fire back.[xi]
UN-Pakistan Relations
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In a Monday speech to the UN General Assembly, Pakistani Ambassador Zamir Akram denied that Pakistan was the sole party responsible for a lack of consensus on a treaty in negotiations to outlaw production of fissile material for nuclear weapons. Recently, Pakistan has blocked negotiations on the treaty, claiming that it is “prejudicial to [Pakistan’s] national security interests.” Akram said that any treaty had to reflect current political realities and take into accounts all concerns of member states, and that every state had a right to equal security.[xii]
International Economic Relations
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In a speech given at the Economic Cooperation Organization on Tuesday, President Asif Ali Zardari urged attendees to liberalize trade through cutting both tariff and non-tariff barriers and encouraging private sector development. He particularly highlighted the role of strengthening energy relationships and ensuring the construction of oil and gas pipelines and power grids.[xiii]
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President Asif Ali Zardari met with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on the sidelines of the ECO Summit to discuss bilateral, regional and international issues, the Afghan peace process, and the situation in Syria. He emphasized that Turkey and Pakistan ought to work together closely to ensure a sustainable peace in Afghanistan and to root out terrorism in the region.[xiv]
Karachi Violence
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Seven people were killed in separate firing incidents in Karachi on Tuesday. An Assistan Sub-Inspector was shot in North Nazimabad. A local member of the Pakistan People’s Party was killed near Asghar Ali Stadium. Four bodies were found in Macchar colony, Lyari, and Chakiwara. A man was also killed in New Town.[xv]
Domestic Politics
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One hundred and fifty four parliamentarians in Pakistan were suspended by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Monday for “failing to submit details of their assets.” Eight senators and 31 members of the National Assembly were suspended, while the rest of the parliamentarians suspended were held seats at the provincial level. Interior Minister Rehman Malik was one of the notable members suspended on Monday.[xvi]