Chief Justice orders detailed report on Pakistani Intelligence services’ competency in aftermath of Quetta attack; Supreme Court examines resubmitted intelligence report about Quetta bombing; Hazara community buries victims of Quetta bombing; Chemical shop owner arrested for supplying explosive material in Quetta bombing; PAF jets bomb TTP in Orakzai; LeJ threatens more attacks; IED causes deaths, injuries in near Jacobabad; Report says over 112 terror attacks in Balochistan since 2003; Militants attack police check post in Charsadda; Nine more killed in Karachi violence; Karachi rangers to continue operations; Kashmiris strike over hanged terrorist buried in India; Spain will invest in Pakistan’s energy sector.
Quetta Bombing
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On Wednesday, the Supreme Court held a hearing examining the intelligence report resubmitted by the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) regarding Saturday’s massive truck bombing in Quetta. According to the resubmitted report, Pakistani intelligence agencies disseminated intelligence to the police and Frontier Corps (FC) regarding an imminent attack before the bombing. The report also stated that Pakistani security forces have since conducted 130 operations against militants. The initial report submitted by the defense secretary, Asif Yaseen Malik, was rejected by the court. Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry asked the government to conduct a detailed report analyzing the competence of Pakistani intelligence agencies, and asked “why responsibility should not be fixed on Prime Minister Raja Parvez Ashraf like it was done against Chief Minister Aslam Raisani,” citing an earlier attack on the Hazara community in January.[1]
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Majlis Wahdat-ul- Muslimeen (MWM) General Secretary Allama Amin Shaheedi announced that the burial of the victims of Saturday’s attack, which killed between 81 and 90 people, will begin at 9am on Wednesday. The burial, however, was delayed by women continuing to protest the attack. Some of the protestors began firing weapons into the air which led to retaliatory fire by the police. No one was injured during the incident.[2]
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On Wednesday, Pakistani security forces arrested the owner of a chemical shop in Akbar Mandi, Lahore who allegedly supplied the explosive materials used in the Quetta bombing on Saturday. Pakistani security forces records declared that 15 cartons of explosive materials were shipped from the shop to Quetta prior to the attack.[3]
Militancy
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Pakistan Air Force (PAF) launched an aerial assault in Tirah Valley in Upper Orakzai agency killing at least 11 suspected Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) militants on Wednesday. PAF jets also destroyed three militant hideouts during the operation.[4]
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The militant group Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ), which claimed responsibility for Saturday’s massive car bombing in Quetta, warned in a series of phone calls after the attack on Saturday that it would target the Anti Terrorism Force (ATF) Jail in Quetta Cantonment unless security forces transferred detained LeJ militants to the less-secure Central Jail Hudda, also in Quetta. LeJ spokesman Abu Bakar Siddiq threatened further attacks on Hazara Shias, saying that LeJ has 20 more vehicle-borne bombs ready to attack places like Alamdar Road, Mehrabad and Hazara Town in Quetta.[5]
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According to a report in The News on Wednesday, there have been at least 112 separate terrorist attacks, claiming thousands of lives, in Balochistan since 2003. The report began measuring from an attack in June 2003, when militants shot and killed eleven police trainees, and continued through measuring targeted attacks, IED’s, tribal shootings, ethnic and religious violence, and ambushes on NATO convoys until January 2013. The report lists examples of major incidents, including fourteen attacks that killed ten or more people, not to mention various high profile assassinations and other violence.[6]
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On Tuesday, during a targeted operation against the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ) the FC killed four militant and captured seven others. Shah Wali, the alleged mastermind of LeJ operations in the area including bombings and targeted killings, was reportedly killed during the operation. FC soldiers also recovered three assault rifles, 24 rockets, two anti-personnel mines, 36 remote controlled IEDs, and ball bearings during the operation.[7]
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On Tuesday, security forces in Darra Adam Khel arrested and detained fifteen tribesmen after a military convoy was “caught in the crossfire” during a skirmish between rival tribes.[8]
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On Tuesday, four to five militants attacked a police check post and killed a Frontier Reserve Police (FRP) policeman at Kala Dher Chowk, Charsadda, in the fourth targeted killing in the area in the last five days. The attackers shot the policeman dead, stole his rifle, and fled in a car.[9]
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On Wednesday, one person was killed and four others injured when a remote-controlled improvised explosive device (IED) exploded during a religious rally in Ahmed Deen Brohi village near Jacobabad, Sindh. People began protesting following the attack which caused businesses to close down in the city.[10]
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In Karachi, one man was killed and two others injured during a firing incident on Wednesday; a body was found in Askari Park near the Old Sabzi Mandi Area; a man was found injured in Godhra Camp Nala Stop; and another person was injured due to a firing incident by unidentified assailants at Green Town, in the Alfalah area.[11]
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Nine people were killed in targeted violence on Tuesday, in a string of attacks around Karachi. Motorcyclists shot and killed a man sitting outside a shop in Korangi’s Gulzar Colony. Armed men killed a local office holder in Bihar Colony, Orangi Town. Unknown gunmen opened fire on two people in Bhains Colony, killing one and wounding the other. A man was gunned down in the Korangi Industrial Area. Four people were killed in a shooting in the Landhi area.[12]
Security Measures
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A report from Express Tribune stated that the Sindh Home Ministry announced that Pakistani rangers will continue operations against targeted killings in Karachi for another three months.[13]
Indo-Pak Relations
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In Kashmir on Wednesday, separatists announced a three day strike demanding the body of a convicted Kashmiri militant who was executed and buried in India. Most businesses were closed down and authorities imposed a ban on assembly.[14]
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On Tuesday, the International Court of Arbitration ruled in favor of India’s diversion of water from Kishanganga hydroelectric project in Kashmir. In November, officials from Islamabad proposed a neutral committee to solve the dispute.[15]
Nuclear Proliferation
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In a statement from Islamabad on Wednesday, the Pakistani Foreign Ministry announced that it successfully concluded a two day conference with a delegation from the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR). The statement concluded that Pakistan’s missile project “is compatible with the guidelines of MTCR and Nuclear Suppliers Group.” Additionally, the Ministry expressed an openness to cooperation with other nuclear, biological, and chemical groups to develop and deploy peaceful uses of those technologies.[16]
Pakistan’s Energy Crisis
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According to report published by the Wall Street Journal, Pakistan’s Inter-State Gas Systems Company will begin construction of the Pakistani portion of Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline immediately and hopes to complete the project in 15 months. According the report, the U.S. has opposed the Iran-Pakistan pipeline and proposed an alternate Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India pipeline. U.S. officials have also warned Pakistan of economic sanctions should in continue to pursue the pipeline. The report concluded that many analysts consider the approval of the gas pipeline a political stunt by the ruling Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) aimed at winning votes from anti-American voters.[17]
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During a meeting at Rawalpindi Chamber of Commerce and Industry on Tuesday, Ambassador of Spain Javier Carbajosa Sanchez announced that Spain is eager to invest in Pakistan’s energy sector. Carbajosa stated that Pakistan and Spain are benefiting from their political relations, and Spain seeks to improve trade between the two countries.[18]