Pakistan Security Brief

CIA Pakistan chief leaves country; U.S. to “redouble” strikes on al Qaeda leadership: Lute; Pakistan adds travel restrictions for foreign diplomats; Pasha asks U.S. to stop drone strikes; U.S. delayed bin Laden raid; U.N. adds TTP to sanctions list; China says Xinjiang attacked by terrorists trained in Pakistan; Pasha misses Abbottabad commission session; Drone strike kills four in S. Waziristan; Militants plan for Ramadan; Bahadur militants deny they ordered rival groups to leave N. Waziristan; Mohmand border area 90% secured in military operation; July: 200 killed in Karachi; TTP and LeJ militants arrested in Karachi and Lahore; LeJ kill eleven Shiites in Quetta; NATO tankers torched in Khairpur; Nowshera unrecovered from floods.

U.S.-Pakistan Relations

• Over the weekend, the CIA’s Pakistan station chief returned to the U.S. for “medical reasons.” Dawn hints there could be other reasons for his departure. He is not expected to return to his post. This comes after the previous CIA Pakistan chief was forced to leave after his identity was allegedly leaked to the media by Pakistan’s intelligence service. ABC News reports the current station chief had a tense relationship with Directorate for Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) chief Lt. Gen. Ahmed Shuja Pasha, and his departure could, therefore, improve the U.S.-Pakistani relationship.[i]

• The LA Times reported on Friday that the U.S. would continue to emphasize covert strikes targeting al Qaeda leadership in Pakistan. Lt. Gen. Douglas Lute, of the National Security Council, stated that he believed the U.S. could wipe out al Qaeda if its few remaining key leaders were killed. Lt. Gen. Lute, who spoke at the Aspen Security Forum on Friday, stressed using covert strikes as the “knockout punch” that would defeat al Qaeda. Lute’s comments came after former Director of National Intelligence Adm. Dennis C. Blair told the Aspen Security Forum the U.S. should slow the use of drone strikes to avoid further alienating the Pakistani people.[ii]

• AFP reported Saturday that Pakistan had instituted further travel restrictions on U.S. diplomats living in Pakistan. The Pakistani Foreign Ministry insisted the restrictions were for the safety of diplomats and that there were no “U.S.-specific restrictions.” U.S. Ambassador to Pakistan Cameron Munter was himself briefly detained for not carrying his no-objection certificate (NOC). This is the latest in a series of restrictions and rebukes targeting U.S. personnel in Pakistan in the aftermath of the May 2 raid that killed Osama bin Laden.[iii]

• Dawn reported that ISI chief Lt. Gen. Ahmed Shuja Pasha told acting CIA director Michael Morell to stop U.S. drone strikes in Pakistan during his recent visit to Washington. Pasha’s complaint marks Pakistan’s first formal request for the U.S. to end the strikes. The U.S. allegedly began using drones in Pakistan in 2004.[iv]

• An anonymous source told the Express Tribune that the U.S. may have delayed the raid that killed bin Laden because they feared what Pakistan’s reaction would be. The same source says then CIA Director Leon Panetta’s statements after the raid accusing the Pakistanis of complicity were like “rubbing salt into [Pakistan’s] wounds.”[v]

TTP Put on U.N. Sanction List

• On Friday, the United Nations added the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) to a list of al Qaeda-affiliated groups to be sanctioned. The U.N. will impose “an assets freeze[,] . . . travel ban and arms embargo” on the TTP. The TTP’s leader, Hakimullah Mehsud, was already on the sanctions list.[vi]

China Blames Attack on Terrorists Trained in Pakistan

• Local government officials said that terrorist attacks over the weekend in China’s Xinjiang province were executed by East Turkistan Islamic Movement (ETIM) militants trained in Pakistan. The ETIM is an Islamist extremist group active in Pakistan that seeks independence for Muslim regions in China’s northwest, which they call East Turkistan, and the conversion of all Chinese people to Islam. The organization consists mostly of Uighur Muslims from Western China.[vii]

Abbottabad Commission

• The commission investigating the May 2 raid that killed Osama bin Laden postponed its proceedings after Director General of the ISI Lt. Gen. Shuja Pasha was unable to attend the most recent meeting. Lt. Gen. Pasha was due to testify before the commission regarding bin Laden’s presence in Pakistan.[viii]

FATA

• On Monday, a drone strike killed four militants in Nargusa, South Waziristan. Pakistani intelligence officials told the Associated Press the militants killed were Pakistani but not from the border region.[ix]

• On Saturday, the Taliban distributed leaflets in Miram Shah stating that they were banning murder for the month of Ramadan. The leaflets were reportedly distributed “on behalf of Hafiz Gul Bahadur, the Taliban commander for North Waziristan.” Anyone caught committing a murder will be fined Rs500,000 ($5,765). Over the weekend, U.S. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (CJCS) Adm. Mike Mullen said he expected some terrorist leaders active in Afghanistan would cross the border into Pakistan to celebrate Ramadan. Though they would be leaving their fighters in Afghanistan, their Ramadan break could cause a temporary lull in violence.[x]

• Last Wednesday, the North Waziristan Taliban-faction lead by Hafiz Gul Bahadur denied recent reports that they had asked rival militant groups, specifically the TTP led by Hakimullah Mehsud, to leave the region. Bahadur’s spokesman, Ahmadullah Ahmadi, denied the reports and said there were no other militants to speak of.[xi]

• On Saturday, local officials said 90 percent of the border area in Mohmand Agency is now secure. The military recently partnered with local tribal militias to secure the area. Twelve militants have been killed in recent fighting.[xii]

Karachi

• Reuters reports around two-hundred people were killed in targeted killings in Karachi in July. Seventeen people have been killed since Sunday morning. Paramilitary rangers and other police are continuing efforts to bring peace to the city.[xiii]

TTP and LeJ arrests

• On Sunday, police arrested ten militants belonging to the TTP and Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ). Four TTP and three LeJ militants were arrested in Karachi, while three militants were arrested in Lahore, one of whom was also affiliated with LeJ. The other two militants arrested in Lahore are allegedly affiliated with “Ilyas Kashmiri’s group,” Harkat-ul Jihad-al-Islami (HuJI). Kashmiri was reported dead after a June 3 drone strike.[xiv]

Balochistan

• On Saturday, gunmen opened fire on a van of Shiite’s traveling through Quetta. LeJ has claimed responsibility for the attack.[xv]

NATO Tankers Attacked

• On Monday, “unidentified men” attacked NATO tankers traveling through Khairpur, Sindh, injuring four. Geo reports ten oil tankers and four local businesses caught on fire.[xvi]

Floods

• Reuters reports residents of Nowshera remain angry that they have not received adequate support from the government to recover from last year’s floods. There has been renewed concern lately that not enough has been done to recover from last year’s floods and that Pakistan remains unprepared to deal with future flooding. Last year’s flooding killed 2,000 and left eleven million homeless.[xvii]