Pakistan Security Brief

January 28, 2014

Adviser to the Prime Minister on Foreign Affairs and National Security in Washington D.C. for Strategic Dialogue, calls for better relationship with U.S.; Pakistan has received about half of the aid promised by U.S.; Pakistan blocks bus travelling across LoC; TTP spokesman says the TTP is still willing to negotiate with the government; Prime Minister and army chief discuss peace talks and targeted operations against the TTP; Pakistan is prepared to respond militarily to domestic terrorist threat; two bomb blasts kill one woman and injure two in Kurram agency; Bomb Disposal Unit defuses a bomb in Peshawar; Rangers arrest 29 in targeted operations throughout Karachi.

U.S.-Pakistan Relations

  • On Monday, Adviser to the Prime Minister on Foreign Affairs and National Security Sartaj Aziz met in Washington D.C. with an American delegation headed by Secretary of State John Kerry and discussed the future of the U.S.-Pakistan relationship after the American withdrawal from Afghanistan. Aziz said that Pakistan would like a relationship with the U.S. that transcends the two issues that have traditionally dominated American interest in Pakistan—terrorism and Afghanistan. He added that Pakistan will bear the brunt of instability in Afghanistan if the U.S. does not manage its withdrawal carefully.[1]

  • During the U.S.-Pakistan Strategic Dialogue meeting on Monday, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said that the U.S. supports Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s economic reforms, and said Pakistan’s economy had the potential to become a “tiger economy” if it continued with the reform process.[2]

  • On Monday, Parliamentary Secretary for Finance Rana Muhammad Afzal Khan said that the U.S. has given Pakistan $3.8 billion of the $7.5 billion that was promised in the Kerry-Lugar-Berman Bill.[3]

India-Pakistan Relations

  • On Monday, Pakistani authorities blocked a bus from travelling from Poonch to Rawalakot across the Line of Control (LoC) in Kashmir. This comes several days after Pakistan stopped bus service from Muzzafarabad to Srinagar to protest India’s detention of 48 Pakistani truck drivers as part of a drugs bust.[4]

Talks with the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP)

  • On Monday Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) spokesman Shahidullah Shahid said that the TTP is still open to talks and blamed the government for not taking negotiations seriously.[5]

Domestic

  • On Tuesday, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and army chief General Raheel Sharif met to discuss the possibility of peace talks with and targeted operations against the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). [6]

  • On Tuesday, the law minister of Punjab province Rana Sanaullah stated that the military is prepared to respond to the growing terrorist threat in Pakistan, following a recent spike in TTP-led violence. Sanaullah also rejected the notion that the Protection of Pakistan Ordinance (PPO), which expanded Pakistan’s legal authority to address domestic terrorism, infringes on basic human rights.[7]

  • On Tuesday, Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) leader Syed Manawar Hasan said that, while Osama bin Laden is dead, he lives on in the hearts of some people.[8]

Militancy

  • On Tuesday, two landmine explosions killed one woman and injured two others in Kurram agency.[9]

  • On Tuesday, members of the Bomb Disposal Squad defused a half-kilogram bomb near the Ghazi Baba shrine in Peshawar’s Bhana Mari area.[10]

  • On Tuesday, Rangers conducted targeted operations throughout Karachi, arresting 29.[11]  

 
[1] “Pak Security Concerns Must be Addressed with US Withdrawal: Aziz,” Dawn, January 27, 2014. Available at: http://www.dawn.com/news/1083092/pak-security-concerns-must-be-addressed-with-us-withdrawal-aziz
Doina Chiacu, “Pakistan Urges U.S. to Tread Carefully in Afghan Withdrawal,” Reuters, January 28, 2014. Available at: http://in.reuters.com/article/2014/01/27/usa-pakistan-idINDEEA0Q0HR20140127?feedType=RSS&feedName=southAsiaNews
[2] “Strategic Dialogue: Kerry Hails Pakistan’s ‘Tiger Economy’ Potential,” The Express Tribune, January 28, 2014. Available at: http://tribune.com.pk/story/664333/strategic-dialogue-kerry-hails-pakistans-tiger-economy-potential/
[3] “Pakistan has Received Half of the Funds Earmarked Under US Aid Bill, NA Told,” The Express Tribune, January 27, 2014. Available at: http://tribune.com.pk/story/664070/pakistan-has-received-half-of-the-funds-earmarked-under-kerry-lugar-bill-na-told/
[4] “Pakistan Refuses Entry to Peace Bus from India,” The News, January 28, 2014. Available at: http://www.thenews.com.pk/Todays-News-13-28228-Pakistan-refuses-entry-to-peace-bus-from-India
[5] “Amid Warnings: TTP Reiterates Dialogue Offer,” The Express Tribune, January 28, 2014. Available at: http://tribune.com.pk/story/664346/amid-warnings-ttp-reiterates-dialogue-offer/
[6] “PM meets Army chief, discusses national security,” The Dawn, January 28, 2014. Available at: http://www.dawn.com/news/1083317/pm-meets-army-chief-discusses-national-security
[7] Jon Boone, “Pakistan ‘on war footing to smash Taliban’,” The Guardian, January 28, 2014. Available at: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jan/28/pakistan-war-footing-taliban
[8] Saqib Nasir, “Osama bin Laden Still Alive in People’s Hearts: JI Chief,” The Express Tribune, January 28, 2014. Available at: http://tribune.com.pk/story/664425/osama-bin-laden-still-alive-in-peoples-hearts-ji-chief/
[9] “Woman killed, two injured in Kurram landmine explosions,” The Dawn, January 28, 2014. Available at: http://www.dawn.com/news/1083292/woman-killed-two-injured-in-kurram-landmine-explosions
[10] “Bomb defused in Peshawar,” The Dawn, January 28, 2014. Available at: http://www.dawn.com/news/1083291/bomb-defused-in-peshawar
[11] “Karachi raids: 29 suspects arrested,” The Dawn, January 28, 2014. Available at: http://www.dawn.com/news/1083313/karachi-raids-29-suspects-arrested
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