Pakistan Security Brief - February 19, 2013

90 killed in massive Quetta bombing targeting Shias, mourners refuse to bury their dead till gov’t crackdown on militants begins; Militants attack political offices in Peshawar, kill over five including senior official; Pakistani clerics to boycott Afghan peace conference; Senior TTP leader Faqir Muhammad arrested in Afghanistan; Senior TTP leader Tariq Afridi dies of wounds sustained in feud; Suicide bomber launches failed attack on KP chief minister; IED injures four soldiers in NWA; China takes control of Gwadar port; Pakistani missile tests to counter Indian missile shield; 2 soldiers dead in militant attack on NATO convoy; Militant group threatens media shop owners in Nowshera; PAF jets bomb TTP hideouts in Orakzai; MQM quits ruling coalition; Finance minister resigns amid rumors he will be interim PM; Violence across NW Pakistan, Balochistan, Lahore and Karachi kills dozens; India ends week-long Kashmir curfew; UAE to make massive foreign direct investments in Pakistan; Iran, Pakistan, look to deepen ties; Death of NAB prosecutor deemed suicide.

Major Attacks

• On Saturday, between 81 and 90 people were killed, and another 200 injured, when an improvised explosive device (IED) detonated in a Shia Hazara-dominated neighborhood of Quetta. Quetta police chief, Mir Zubai Mehmood, stated that a tanker carrying over 1,000kg (approximately 2200lbs) of explosives was remote detonated. Sunni militant group Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ) claimed responsibility for the attack. LeJ also claimed responsibility for another bombing in Quetta on January 10, which killed nearly 100 people. A report published by The News states that the attack could have been prevented had the Frontier Corps (FC) and the police collaborated on efforts to capture Usman Kurd, a leader in LeJ. Following the attack, nationwide protests erupted demanding government protection against militant violence.  Leaders responsible for the protests from  Majlis Wahdatul Muslimeen, Balochistan Shia Conference and Milli Yakjehti Council all demand that the government deploy the army to Quetta to protect the Hazara community.  The three groups refused to bury their dead until  government officials announced on Monday  that paramilitary operations were underway to capture the culprits, and that security in Quetta would be increased.  On Tuesday, Pakistani police announced that they had arrested 170 suspects connected with the bombing.  In one raid, security forces killed four militants, including a bomb maker suspected of masterminding the market bomb.[1]

• Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari, Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf and Chief of Army Staff General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, convened a meeting on Tuesday to discuss the situation in Balochistan and overall internal security. The meeting concluded with a decision that rigorous measures will be taken to eliminate terrorism.[2]

• On Monday, four militants wearing tribal police uniforms and suicide vests attacked the office of Khyber agency’s political agent in Peshawar, killing five and injuring seven others. The first suicide bomber detonated his explosive at the front gate, killing one security guard and injuring five more and created an entrance for at least two others to follow. Attackers then entered the premises and exchanged fire with security forces before detonating their explosives, killing another four paramilitary soldiers. Assistant Political Agent for Khyber’s Landi Kotal sub-district Khalid Mumtaz Kundi later died from injuries sustained during the attack. [3]

Clerics Boycott Ulema Peace Conference

• On Sunday, the leader of Majlis Sutul Islam (Voice of Islam) clerics reportedly wrote to the chief of the Afghan Ulema Council threatening to boycott the conference unless his Afghan counterparts responded to his letter within 48 hours, clarifying anti-Taliban statements an Afghan cleric made last week.  The head of the Pakistani council, Mufti Abu Huraira Mohiuddin said the council would boycott the conference unless Afghan clerics could sufficiently explain their “unsavory language” against the Taliban.  Mohiuddin expressed fears that the conference was evolving into “one-sided attack on the Taliban rather than a conference to press for peace.”[4] 

Militancy

• On Monday, Maulvi Faqir Mohammad, a prominent leader in, and former deputy of, the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), was arrested by Afghan forces in Nangarhar province of eastern Afghanistan. Afghan security forces detained Mohammad and four other TTP members as they attempted to cross the border into the Tirah Valley, in Pakistan’s Khyber agency.[5]

• TTP commander Tariq Afridi died on Thursday after succumbing to previously sustained injuries in the Tirah valley of Orakzai agency.  Afridi’s brother-in-law shot him in a dispute, reportedly at the behest of TTP leader Hakimullah Mehsud,in  August of 2012. [6]

• On Saturday afternoon, a suicide bomber killed only himself when he attacked Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Amir Haider Hoti’s convoy in Mardan.  TTP spokesman Ehsanullah Ehsan claimed responsibility for the attacks, and warned that there would be “more such attacks.”[7]

• On Sunday, four soldiers were injured in the Sarobi area of North Waziristan when their convoy ran over an IED a few meters along the road past a second IED they had just defused.  According to a report, after the attack security forces imposed a curfew in the area while helicopter gunships then attacked a number of suspected militant positions, with no known casualties.[8]

• On Monday, two soldiers died when at least three gunmen opened fire on a NATO convoy in Landi Kotal town in Kyber agency.  Though no one has taken responsibility as of yet, local administrators suspect the TTP was behind the attack.[9]

• In the Rashakai area of Nowshera district, Khyber Pakhtunkhawa province, a militant group by the name of Tehrik-i-Taliban Mujahid Tehrik has announced a ban on internet cafes and music stores. Militants distributed pamphlets warning the owners of shops to find alternate means of earning a living or face dire consequences.[10]

• On Sunday, Pakistan Air Force (PAF) jets bombed and killed six militants in Orakzai, effectively destroying three of their hideouts.  Another report suggested Sunday’s death toll was as high as ten.  Similarly, in a combined operation on Friday in Orakzai, security forces and PAF jets killed eight militants and destroyed two hideouts.  Military officers said both operations were focused in Upper Orakzai’s Mamuzai area.[11]On Monday,

• On Monday, militants in Rustam Bazaar in South Waziristan fired six rockets, which landed in deserted areas and caused no casualties or damage.  No group has reportedly claimed responsibility for the attack.[12]

• On Sunday, militants opened fire and killed a police officer in Matani on the outskirts of Peshawar.  Separately, in Mashokhel village, militants planted explosives and detonated them in a school, damaging the building on Monday morning.[13]

• On Saturday, a Frontier Corps (FC) soldier was kidnapped and killed on his way home from the Ghund Checkpost in lower Kurram Agency.[14]

• Balochistan’s Home Secretary Akbar Husain Durrani announced that seventy Baloch fighters had agreed to lay down their arms and stop fighting security forces, once the government announced it would give them a stipend and assure their welfare.[15]

• On Monday evening, two assassins were shot and killed in a shootout in Lasbela district, Quetta, that left three others injured, including two police officers. [16]

• Unidentified assailants shot and killed a well-known doctor and his son in the Gulberg area of Lahore on Monday.[17]

• Eight people died in violence across Karachi on Monday.  Gunmen on motorcycles shot and killed four activists from Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamaat (ASWJ)Three police were injured when they arrived at the scene of the shooting in Burhan Bazaar, Patel Para to dispel a furious mob protesting the shootings.  In Gulzar Colony, a man was killed and two others injured when motorcyclists opened fire on them outside a shop.  Under the Liaquatabad Expressway, police recovered the body of a man who was shot and tortured to death.  A blast in Orangi Town’s Peerabad  injured at least two people in Karachi on Monday, though no one has yet taken responsibility for the attack. Later on, no one was killed or injured when a bomb detonated in Shara-e-Faisal, on the street where protests against the Quetta violence had ended earlier that afternoon.  In Surjani Town, police recovered the bodies of two people who had been tortured and murdered.  Attackers killed a man in Machar Colony, and other assailants shot and killed two more people in Baldia Town and Surjani Town’s Khuda ki Basti.[18]

• More than seven people were killed in Karachi on Sunday, when gunmen opened fire in separate incidents.  Two people were killed in a shooting in Kharadar, and another shooting in Empress Market left one man dead, and two more injured.  A man was shot to death in Korangi, and police recovered at least three bodies littered around the city.  Furthermore, unknown people set fire to a truck, bus, and water tanker in Guru Mandir and Malir.[19]

• On Saturday, at least seven people were killed in several targeted killings in Karachi.  Police found one body floating near Neti Jetty, another in Zaman Town, and, in Kharadar, the bodies of two more who had been kidnapped and murdered.  Armed men entered a house in Surjani Town and opened fire on a man living there, and other assailants attacked and killed a man in Banaras.  Further, police found a tortured and killed body on Mauripur Road.  Late Saturday night, two people were injured when they were shot by attackers near Ghani Chowrangi and Landhi. Two people were killed and six more injured Saturday morning in separate shootings across Karachi.  Attackers shot and killed two people in Saddar, while other unknown gunmen opened fire in Gurumandir and injured four people.  Near the Shah Faisal Bridge, two additional people were shot and injured when attackers fired at them. Kannu police defused a hand grenade that failed to detonate when attackers threw it through the window of a house in Saddar.[20]

• On Friday, eight people were killed in several shootings in Karachi and many more were injured.  Attackers opened fire on the man’s wedding car, killing him and another passenger in Old Golimar.  Six other people died in shootings when unknown gunmen shot and killed them in Korangi Darul Uloom, near Valika Hospital, and in Orangi Town.[21]

• Karachi Police arrested smugglers along Gwadar Highway and seized 60 kilograms of opium and 100 kilograms of hashish on Monday.  This comes after police seized 461 kilograms of hashish from a truck on Karachi-Gwadar Highway on Friday.[22]

China Assumes Control of Gwadar Port

• On Monday, President Zardari presided over proceedings formally transferring the Gwadar seaport from the Port of Singapore Authority to China Overseas Ports Holding Company Limited.[23] 

Ballistic Missile Testing

• Mansoor Ahmed, an expert in Pakistan’s national deterrent and delivery program stated that Pakistan’s recent tests of short-range ballistic missiles are designed to respond to India’s development of an anti-ballistic missile program and its ability to launch surprise attacks by “forward-deployed forces.”[24]

Indo-Pak Relations

• On Saturday, Indian officials officially ended a week-long curfew in Kashmir. Authorities imposed the curfew in an attempt to stem protests after convicted terrorist Mohammed Afzal Guru was executed last week.  Once the curfew was lifted and mobile service and internet was restored to the region, anti-India groups who favor Pakistani control over the primarily Muslim region announced a two day general strike, which shut down Kashmir for most of the weekend.[25]

Abu Dhabi Invests $45 Billion in Pakistan

• On Saturday, the former president of Bahria Town signed an agreement with leaders from the Abu Dhabi branches of Union National Bank and United Bank Limited to begin a $45 billion deal investing in major construction projects in various parts of Pakistan—the largest foreign investment in Pakistani history.  The money will be distributed with roughly “$10 billion…invested in Islamabad and Lahore whereas $35 billion will be invested in Sindh.”  As a part of the deal, contractors will build the world’s tallest building in Karachi.[26]

Iran-Pakistan Relations

• In Tehran on Monday, Pakistani Interior Minister Rehman Malik and Iranian Interior Minister Mustafa Najr signed an agreement to increase border security, specifically aiming to enhance efforts combating terrorism, the drug trade, human trafficking, and counterfeit currency exchange.[27]

Domestic Politics

• On Tuesday, Pakistani Finance Minister Abdul Hafeez Shaikh resigned, amidst speculation that he will take over as prime minister for the caretaker government.Shaikh will be replaced by the State Finance Minister Saleem Mandviwalla.[28]

• On Saturday, the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) announced that the organization has decided to withdraw from its alliance with the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and will quit the federal and provincial governments because of the “negative attitude” held by members of the PPP.[29]

• The death of a National Accountability Bureau (NAB) officer, Kamran Faisal, has been declared a suicide by a board of five doctors from Poly Clinic Hospital. Faisal’s death has attracted widespread attention due to his involvement in a case prosecuting Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf and allegations my members of his family, who claim that Faisal was murdered. The autopsy report was handed over to the Secretariat Police on Saturday and will be presented to the Supreme Court at the next date of the hearing.[30]