Pakistan Security Brief

Swiss tourists in TTP custody; India-Pakistan talks to continue uninterrupted; Clinton calls Zardari; Pakistan ready to resolve misunderstandings with U.S.: Gilani; Iran allows al Qaeda to move resources through country; Al Qaeda still a threat: Leiter; Mumbai attacker appeals death penalty; Nine militants killed in Kurram clash; Bill to allow detention of suspicious persons in FATA without trial; Three killed in Karachi; NATO tanker attacked in Balochistan; Malik speaks at IISS; Villages remain unrecovered after 2010 floods.

TTP Holds Swiss Hostages

• Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) deputy leader Waliur Rehman has told the Associated Press the TTP has custody of two Swiss tourists captured earlier this month. Rehman announced that the TTP would release the hostages only if the U.S. were to release Aafia Siddiqui, who was convicted and jailed by a U.S. court for attempting to shoot U.S. officials in Afghanistan. Rehman claims the hostages have not and will not be tortured. If Siddiqui is not released, however, the hostages will be tried in a Taliban court.[i]

India-Pakistan Relations

• Pakistani Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar said Thursday that talks with India would continue given the progress made at her Wednesday meeting with Indian Foreign Minister S.M. Krishna in New Delhi. Khar stressed that both nations remained committed to solving the Kashmir dilemma.[ii]

U.S.-Pakistan Relations

• On Thursday, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called President Asif Ali Zardari to discuss the U.S.-Pakistan relationship. They also discussed progress made in this week’s India-Pakistan talks.[iii]

• On Thursday, Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani said Pakistan wanted to resolve “misunderstandings” with the U.S. This comes after a partial suspension of U.S. aid to Pakistan and the recent arrest of a Pakistani-American lobbyist who is accused of acting as an unregistered foreign agent.[iv]

Al Qaeda

• On Thursday, the Treasury Department said Iran has been aiding al Qaeda by allowing funds and operatives to travel through Iran, giving al Qaeda a supply line connecting South Asia to the Middle East. Resources have reportedly travelled through Iran via Iran-based al Qaeda operatives, including Ezedin Abdel Aziz Khalil, whom the Treasury claims Iran has consciously allowed to operate within the country.[v]

• On Thursday, Michael E. Leiter, who recently resigned from his position at the helm of the National Counterterrorism Center, said reports that al Qaeda was on the verge of collapse were inaccurate and that the terrorist network was still a threat. Leiter said that although al Qaeda’s leadership was “on the ropes” in Pakistan, terrorists in the country were still capable of launching attacks against the U.S.[vi]

Mumbai Attacker Appeals Death Penalty Verdict

• The only surviving member of the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) team that attacked Mumbai in 2008, Mohammad Ajmal Amir Qasab, has appealed his death sentence in a Mumbai court. The November 2008 attacks killed 166 people. Qasab and one other team member attacked Mumbai’s main train station, killing fifty-two people.[vii]

FATA

• On Thursday, nine militants were killed in a clash with a tribal lashkar in the Masozai area of central Kurram Agency. Six tribesmen were also killed. Local residents have begun to flee central Kurram, where the militants are strongest, to safer areas in lower Kurram. 1,700 families have been registered in the internally-displaced persons (IDPs) camp in Durrani, while “more than 5,000 families are living with relatives and friends” in secure areas.[viii]

• An Express Tribune report details a recent bill that allows security forces operating in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) to “detain any person they deem a threat to public order for as long as 120 days, with relatively little oversight.” A number of politicians have met with President Zardari to express concerns that such legislation would severely undermine civil rights.[ix]

Karachi

• Geo reports three more people were killed in targeted killings in Karachi on Friday. Targeted killings have claimed hundreds of lives in Karachi in the last several weeks.[x]

Balochistan

• On Thursday, unidentified armed men attacked and set ablaze a NATO oil tanker in Kachhi district. The tanker was traveling from Karachi to Kandahar when it was attacked.[xi]

Malik IISS Speech

• While speaking at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, Interior Minister Rehman Malik claimed the Tablighi missionary center in Raiwind was a “breeding ground of extremism.” Malik said funding for radicalizing efforts came from outside Pakistan. Malik specifically accused elements in Afghanistan and India of funding terrorists inside Pakistan.[xii]

Floods

• The Associated Press reports villages affected by last year’s floods have not been given the resources to recover. Some residents are still living in tents because their homes have not been rebuilt. While local governments and international aid groups have tried to help, the villages remain badly damaged and unprepared for future floods.[xiii]