Pakistan Security Brief - October 10, 2013

Mullah Fazlullah alleged dead in clash with Afghan Taliban; Indian External Affairs Minister urges patience on Pakistan-India relations; Afghan Taliban says that Mullah Baradar’s health is deteriorating in Pakistani detention; New Ambassador to U.S. appointed; One person killed in Lahore explosion; Six killed in Quetta explosion; Three security personnel injured in Peshawar blast; 138 police officers have died in Karachi this year; JUI-F leader gunned down in Balochistan; LeT founder Saeed says that JuD will help relief effort in Balochistan; Pakistan does not meet IMF benchmark; Finance Minister says that IMF does not run Pakistan’s economy; President and Prime Minister meet to discuss filling military posts; Islamabad High Court urged to put Musharraf on Exit Control List.

Taliban Feuding

• In a clash between the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and Afghan Taliban forces in Kunar, Afghanistan on Tuesday, three TTP militants were reportedly killed. Mullah Fazlullah, the leader of the TTP’s Swat faction, is rumored to be among the dead. TTP sources have denied that Fazlullah is dead, although they have confirmed that the clashes took place.[1]

India-Pakistan Relations

• On Wednesday, Salman Kurshid, the Indian External Affairs Minister, said that India would not play into the hands of militant groups in Kashmir who are trying to stop India-Pakistan ties from improving. He said that India will not overreact to Line of Control violations, although he also said that India feels betrayed by recent incursions from Pakistan’s side.[2]

• The speakers of the Indian and Pakistani parliaments, Meira Kumar and Ayaz Sadiq respectively, met in Geneva Switzerland on the sidelines of the Inter Parliamentary Union Assembly to discuss their mutual hopes of improving the India-Pakistan relationship.[3]

Afghanistan Reconciliation Talks

• On Wednesday, Afghan Taliban spokesperson Zabihullahj Mujahid said that former Taliban deputy commander Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar is still essentially under Pakistani detention in Karachi and that his health is deteriorating.[4]

U.S.-Pakistan Relations

• On Wednesday, the Pakistani government appointed the current Ambassador to Germany, Abdul Basit, as Foreign Secretary, and the current Foreign Secretary, Jalil Abbas Jilani, as Ambassador to the United States. According to Dawn the United States is willing to expedite Jilani’s appointment process so that he can begin his tenure before Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s October 23 visit to Washington D.C.[5]

Militancy

• A dozen people were injured and one was killed on Thursday when a bomb exploded in Lahore’s Old Anarkali market area. Two people have been taken into police custody.[6]

• During a visit to Peshawar on Thursday, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif said that his government is trying to strengthen national anti-terrorism laws, and that he would establish a fund worth about $1.9 million for the families of the victims of the Peshawar All-Saints Church attack.[7]

• On Thursday, A bomb attack in a Quetta marketplace killed six people and injured 35. The bomb was attached to a bicycle and killed at least one policeman. The attack has not yet been claimed by any group.[8]

• Three security personnel who were protecting a polio vaccination team were injured in an explosion in Peshawar on Thursday.[9]

• On Thursday, an eyewitness indentified a Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) member as the murderer of Karachi lawyer Naimat Ali Randhawa.[10]

• Police and Rangers arrested three people in Lyari, Karachi on Thursday, and seized a container that had been stolen from the Mauripur area of Keamari Town.[11]

• Four people in Shah Mansoor, Swabi district, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa were killed by unidentified gunmen on Thursday. Police have said that personal enmity was the motive.[12]

• On Thursday, Sindh police announced that 138 police officers have been killed in Karachi this year. The heaviest losses have been in District West, which contains, Keamari, SITE, Baldia, and Orangi Towns.[13]

• According to a Thursday report in The News, Ahmed Sajjad Rathor, an Arab student at Punjab University who was arrested last month for links to al Qaeda, has confessed to involvement in a 2008 attack on the Danish Embassy in Islamabad.[14]

• A leader of the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F), Fateh Khan, was killed by unknown gunmen on Wednesday in Sanjawi, Ziarat district, Balochistan.[15]

• Unidentified men killed a woman in Larkana, Sindh in her house on Wednesday.[16]

• On Wednesday, Lahore police claimed to have arrested six people who were allegedly involved in several high profile murders, including the killing of the family of a high court advocate.[17]

• Two people were injured in two separate explosions in Parachinar, Kurram agency on Wednesday. One of the explosions was caused by a landmine, the other by explosives planted in a well. It is unclear if the two attacks are linked.[18]

• On Wednesday, Rangers arrested several suspects in killings of policemen in North Karachi.[19]

Domestic

• On Wednesday, Hafiz Muhammad Saeed, the founder of Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), said that the LeT’s political arm, Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD), will build new houses for the victims of the recent earthquake in Balochistan. Saeed said that JuD will participate in an array of other relief activities in Balochistan including distributing meat from Eid-ul-Azha sacrifices, opening temporary hospitals, and starting a free ambulance service.[20]

• Pakistan has failed to meet a benchmark set by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) when it lent Pakistan $6.6 billion, The News reported on Thursday. Pakistan was supposed to hold $5.6 billion in foreign currency reserves by the end of September, but is $1 billion short of the benchmark.[21]

• On Wednesday, Finance Minister Ishaq Dar claimed that the IMF does not give orders to Pakistan on how to run its economy, and said that the government has not raised taxes. He said that the previous caretaker government was responsible for promising new taxes to the IMF.[22]

• On Wednesday, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and President Mamnoon Hussain met to discuss candidates for the positions of army chief and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee (CJCSC).[23]

• According to a Thursday report in The Express Tribune, the Chief Minister of Balochistan, Dr. Malik Baloch, asked the federal government to allow foreign aid groups to get involved in the earthquake relief in the province. Baloch said that the government has not responded to his request.[24]

• In the wake of former President Pervez Musharraf being granted bail in a third case against him, the son of a cleric killed in the 2007 Lal Masjid incident has asked the Islamabad High Court to put Musharraf on the Exit Control List. This would prevent him from leaving the country even if he is no longer under house arrest.[25]

• On Thursday, TTP spokesman Shahidullah Shahid responded to a European Union award for human rights given to Malala Yousafzai, saying that she does not deserve the award because she “has left Islam” And claimed she was being recognized for her anti-Islam activities. Shahid also promised to kill Yousafzai even if she moves to the United Kingdom or the U.S.[26]

• At a Thursday address to Pakistan Air Force (PAF) graduates in Risalpur, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif said that the PAF is capable of defending Pakistan’s territorial integrity from its “enemy”. He also called Pakistan a peace loving country that would continue to push for peace.[27]