TTP leader replaces South Waziristan emir, TTP Mohmand leader to take on his role; Prime Minister meets Chief of the Army Staff to discuss military’s response to killing of 9 FC personnel; Miram Shah political administration imposes curfew throughout agency; U.S. Deputy Secretary of State meets with civil, military leadership to discuss operation in North Waziristan; Foreign Office spokesperson condemns terrorist attack in China; Four injured in Balochistan bomb blast; Arrested FBI agent does not have diplomatic immunity; Foreign Office claims CIA”s “fake vaccination campaign” has contributed to rise in polio cases; Thirteen inmates shifted from Bannu to Dera Ismail Khan.
Splits in the TTP
On Friday, the leader of the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), Mullah Fazlullah, removed Khan Said Sajna from the position of Emir of the TTP in South Waziristan, replacing him with the current leader of the TTP in Mohmand agency, Umar Khalid Khurasani, who will now command the TTP in both North and South Waziristan. According to a report in The News, however, the spokesman for the Sheharyar faction of the TTP, Daud Mehsud, stated that the TTP’s Vice Emir, Sheikh Khalid Haqqani, will be the leader of the TTP in South Waziristan.[1]
Peace Process
On Thursday, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif held a meeting with Chief of the Army Staff General Raheel Sharif to discuss the army’s response to the killing of nine Frontier Corps (FC) personnel in North Waziristan. One unnamed official commented that the attack was an “act of provocation” and a “blow to the peace process” that would have serious repercussions. The military is reportedly planning to launch “massive air strikes” against TTP strongholds in North Waziristan. According to an article in the Express Tribune, General Raheel Sharif also brief the Prime Minister on the security and law and order situations in Karachi, Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (K-P), and the tribal areas, and offered details about the attack against FC forces in Miram Shah.[2]
On Friday, the political administration in Miram Shah, North Waziristan, imposed a curfew throughout the northern region of the agency following the killing of 9 FC Personnel. Additionally, security forces conducted targeted search operations in different parts of North Waziristan, arresting 59 people.[3]
U.S.-Pakistan Relations
According to a Friday article in Dawn, U.S. Deputy Secretary of State William Burns met with the Advisor to the Prime Minister on Foreign Affairs and National Security Sartaj Aziz, the special assistant to the Prime Minister Tariq Fatemi, and Chief of the Army Staff General Raheel Sharif, where he asked Pakistan to undertake an operation that would destroy terrorist sanctuaries in North Waziristan. Burns also requested that the operation be completed before the new Afghan president is installed.[4]
China-Pakistan Relations
On Thursday, Foreign Office Spokesperson Tasneem Aslam condemned the terrorist attack at the Guangzhou railway station in Urumqi that killed three and injured more than 80.[5]
Militancy
On Thursday, unknown persons threw a hand grenade at a college teacher’s house in Mingora, who refused to pay them an extortion fee. The grenade attack damaged a car parked in front of the teacher’s house.[6]
On Friday, a bomb blast in Goth Muhammad Usman, Jafarabad district, Balochistan injured four people.[7]
Domestic
On Thursday, Foreign Office spokesperson Tasneem Aslam stated that the FBI agent arrested at Jinnah International Airport in Karachi does not have diplomatic immunity.[8]
On Thursday, Foreign Office spokesperson Tasneem Aslam claimed that the “fake vaccination campaign” orchestrated by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) was one reason for the rise in polio cases in Pakistan. Aslam added that because of the CIA’s “fake campaign,” people do not trust vaccination drives.[9]
On Thursday, prison authorities in Bannu Prison, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa shifted13 inmates to a prison in Dera Ismail Khan district due to security concerns. The inmates were reportedly all involved in attacks on security forces or police.[10]