Pakistan Security Brief

ISI spies on Pakistanis living in U.S.; Khar rejects U.S. “cajoling” on combating terror; House Foreign Affairs Committee approves bill limiting Pakistan aid; Pakistan continues opposition to Libya intervention; Malik and Chidambaram meet in Bhutan; Preparations for India-Pakistan talks continue; HuT planned Arab Spring-style uprising; HuT activists abducted; Eighteen militants killed in Kurram clashes; Soldier killed in failed suicide attack; Report says terror attacks increased in recent weeks; Karachi killings spike over weekend; Five killed in Balochistan shooting; Swiss hostages alive according to circumstantial evidence; Abbottabad commission meets; Pakistan unprepared for floods: Islamic Relief; Canada arrests Pakistani war criminal.

U.S.-Pakistan Relations

• According to the New York Times, the FBI discovered a Directorate for Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) operative working out of Pakistan’s consulate in New York, who “had been posing as an F.B.I. agent to extract information from Pakistanis living in the United States and was issuing threats to keep them from speaking openly about Pakistan’s government.” The ISI agent, Mohammed Tasleem, was removed from the U.S. after the FBI alerted then CIA director Leon Panetta and Panetta contacted ISI Director General Lt. Gen. Ahmad Shuja Pasha. U.S. officials believe that the Tasleem’s activities and those of recently arrested Kashmiri American Council executive director Syed Ghulam Nabi Fai are part of an ISI campaign meant to work through Pakistanis in the U.S. to influence U.S. policy and reign in dissenting opinions in the Pakistani diaspora.[i]

• After her Saturday meeting with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, newly appointed Pakistani Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar declared the U.S. and Pakistan “shared the strategic objective of combating terror groups” and the U.S. did not need to continue “cajoling” Pakistan about cracking down on militants. This comes after repeated calls from U.S. officials demanding that Pakistan take more decisive action against militants. Khar also commented on this week’s talks with India, stating that she expected “positive development” in the India-Pakistan relationship.[ii]

• On Friday, the House Foreign Affairs Committee approved a bill “that would defund a $7.5 billion aid to Pakistan.” On Thursday, the committee rejected a proposed amendment that would have blocked all aid to Pakistan to punish their “reluctance to combat terrorism.” The committee approved the bill 23-20, making it unlikely that the bill will ever achieve the majority needed for it to be signed into law.[iii]

• Despite U.S. pressure to side with Libyan rebels against embattled Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi, Pakistan has remained steadfastly against the “aerial bombardment of Libya.” Pakistan, along with Russia, China, Sweden and Holland, has remained in opposition to the operation citing that a nation’s sovereignty should not be violated “merely in the name of restoration of democracy or protection of human rights.”[iv]

India-Pakistan Relations

• Pakistan’s Interior Minister Rehman Malik met with his Indian counterpart, Home Minister P. Chidambaram, on Saturday in advance of the coming talks between the two nations. The two ministers met in Bhutan to discuss “mutual interest[s],” including the recent terrorist attack in Mumbai. Malik blamed “non-state actors,” denying any Pakistani government role in supporting those who executed the attack. No group has taken responsibility for the attacks, but Mumbai police initially said aspects of the attack hinted it may have been the work of the Indian Mujahideen (IM,) an India-based group India believes is connected to Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and ISI. Also during the meeting, Malik confirmed that Pakistan would send a judicial commission to India to investigate the LeT-executed 2008 Mumbai attacks. India recently complained that Pakistan had been too slow to send the commission after India invited Pakistani investigators.[v]

• On Tuesday, the Indian and Pakistani Foreign Secretaries will meet to decide on the agenda for the talks set to take place in New Delhi later this week. Pakistan’s new Foreign Minister, Hina Rabbani Khar, will leave for New Delhi on Tuesday before meeting with her Indian counterpart S.M. Krishna on Wednesday. The talks will focus on combating terrorism and undertaking confidence-building measures. India has released eighty-seven fishermen arrested last year for illegally entering Indian waters as a gesture of goodwill before the talks.[vi]

Pakistani Military and Hizb-ut Tahrir

• The Express Tribune reports that Pakistan gained intelligence a few weeks before the arrest of Brig. Ali Khan showing that Hizb-ut Tahrir (HuT) was planning an “Arab spring”-style uprising in Pakistan. It was suspected that such an operation would rely partially on cooperation with HuT supporters within the security establishment.[vii]

• The News reports that in the aftermath of the arrest of HuT-linked Brig. Ali Khan, “many young [HuT] activists” have been abducted. The father of one of those abducted claims his son was only involved with the organization insofar as he distributed literature and attended protests. He suspects his son was abducted by Pakistan’s intelligence agencies.[viii]

FATA

• On Friday, seven militants were killed in clashes with a pro-government lashkar in Neka Ziarat area of central Kurram. In a separate incident, security forces killed eleven militants in Ali Sherzai area on Sunday. Officials say sixty-five militants have been killed thus far in the military operation in Kurram and that over half the agency has been cleared of militants.[ix]

• On Sunday, a soldier was killed in a blast after troops fired on an approaching suicide bomber just east of Wana. The soldier, who has yet to be identified, was reportedly killed by “splinters” caused by the blast.[x]

• A report issued by the Pakistan Institute for Peace Studies (PIPS) on Saturday says terrorist attacks have spiked recently “after a two-week lull.” The report counts twenty-two deaths from attacks in the week ending on July 10.[xi]

Karachi

• Since Friday forty-four people have been killed in targeted-killings across Karachi. This brings the death toll for July to 339. Clashes are reportedly taking place between supporters of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) “and its breakaway faction the Mohajir Qaumi Movement-Haqiqi (MQM-H.)” Police are reportedly conducting “a door-to-door search operation in areas affected by violence.”[xii]

Balochistan

• On Sunday, five people were killed when gunmen fired on workers building a mosque in Naushki. Two gunmen fired from their motorcycle before speeding away from the construction site. On Saturday, a bomb went off near a railroad track just outside Quetta, killing two people. No group has claimed responsibility for either incident.[xiii]

• Pakistani officials say “circumstantial evidence” shows two Swiss nationals kidnapped in Balochistan earlier this month are still alive. They were taken by unidentified gunmen in Loralai on July 1, but the Pakistani authorities believe they have been moved to the tribal areas near the Afghan border.[xiv]

Abbottabad Commission

• The commission formed to investigate the May 2 raid that killed Osama Bin Laden will hold its second meeting on Monday. A member of the commission told Dawn senior intelligence officials may be questioned at the meeting. The commission was created to investigate how Bin Laden was able to reside in Pakistan without the knowledge of Pakistan’s security establishment and how the U.S. so easily launched a raid on Pakistani soil without a reaction from the Pakistani military.[xv]

Pakistan Unprepared for Floods

• On Sunday, Islamic Relief released a report warning that Pakistan had not adequately recovered from last year’s flooding and that they remained unprepared for future disasters. Islamic Relief’s director for Pakistan claims flooding has already begun. The Pakistani government estimates floods will affect two to six million people in the coming monsoon season.[xvi]

Canada Arrests Pakistani War Criminal

• On Saturday, Canadian authorities arrested suspected Pakistani war criminal Arshad Muhammad outside of Toronto. Authorities have not revealed of what crimes Muhammad stands accused.[xvii]