Pakistan Security Brief

Indian fighter jets violate Pakistani air space; PML-N opposed to PTI anti-drone resolution; Afghan Taliban denies involvement in expected assault on TTP; Armed gunmen kill two BNP-M members; TTP claim responsibility for attack on NATO supply convoy; Gunmen kill two in attempted kidnapping; Pakistan fertilizer plants increase security; According to British report, Israel supplied Pakistan with arms; Fiscal report indicates most targets for 2012-13 missed; Nawaz Sharif forms Cabinet Energy Committee; Bill Gates to help with polio vaccinations; Violence continues in Karachi; Sindh Minister pledges to bring peace to Karachi; MQM releases shadow budget; Policeman shot and killed in Charsadda; Protests in Peshawar, Swat over power cuts; Balochistan Governor appointed; Frontier Corps arrests three in Quetta; Musharraf granted bail in detention case.

 India-Pakistan Relations

• Two Indian fighter jets entered Pakistani airspace on Tuesday, traveling approximately five to seven miles into Pakistan for several minutes before exiting back into Indian airspace. The incursion comes after Pakistani soldiers reportedly killed an Indian officer on the Kashmir border last week.[1]

U.S.-Pakistan Relations

• Following the submission of a Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) resolution calling for force (if necessary) against U.S. drones in Pakistan on Monday, a Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) member on Tuesday claimed that the resolution would not pass without significant amendment. According to PML-N State Minister for Trade Khurram Dastagir Khan, “We also want to stop drone attacks, but not through the use of military force because it can have serious and dangerous consequences.” [2]  

•  According to an article released in the Washington Times on Saturday, the Pakistani fertilizer producer “Fatima Group” has made significant strides in improving security and accountability at its plants in Pakistan, thereby decreasing the amount of calcium ammonium nitrate or CAN—often used in homemade bombs—that has fallen into the hands of militants and extremists. Initially, according to Army General Michael Barbero, the plant had, “not implemented any effective product security or stewardship efforts.” Following U.S. pressure, however, in February 2013, Fatima Group began documenting and inspecting CAN more carefully, and stopped sales in Balochistan and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, where CAN-based bombs were most frequently made, used and transported through.[3]

• In a letter to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Tuesday, Microsoft founder Bill Gates congratulated Sharif on his recent elections, and pledged to provide technical and financial assistance to Pakistan’s health sector. In particular, Gates expressed his desire to aid in ending polio within Pakistan.[4]

Militancy

• On Tuesday, Afghan Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid denied any involvement or approval of a build-up of forces from various militant groups, reportedly including Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and Ansarul Islam, just outside Mohmand agency Pakistan, in what appears to be preparations for an assault on the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). Despite a statement by TTP spokesman Ehsanullah Ehsan that the allied groups were going by the name of the Afghan Taliban, Mujahid claimed, “We are engaged in major operations inside Afghanistan and we do not allow our fighters to interfere beyond the border.” [5]   

• On Monday evening, the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) claimed responsibility for an attack which killed four NATO supply truck drivers earlier that day in Khyber Agency. According to spokesman Ehsanullah Ehsan, the TTP has more attacks planned, warning the government to close the Khyber supply route.[6] 

• Armed gunmen on motorcycles killed two Balochistan National Party-Mengal (BNP-M) party members on Tuesday in Khuzdar, Balochistan. In response BNP-M leader Rauf Mengal announced three days of mourning throughout the province.[7] 

• Gunmen disguised in police uniforms attempted to kidnap a Shia doctor on Tuesday, leaving one kidnapper dead, the doctor wounded, and one of the doctor’s guards dead in Peshawar. Police officials blamed “sectarian terrorists” for carrying out the attack.[8]

•  The casualty count from recent violence in Karachi rose to seven killed and forty one wounded on Monday, as a young man was killed and ten people were wounded in a shooting in Kalri, Karachi. In the wake of grenade attacks and shootings over the last three days in Karachi, additional Rangers officials have been deployed to the area, and 16 people have been arrested in connection with the violence.[9]

• Thirteen men were arrested at a Shrine in Karachi on Monday, including two men suspected of being contract killers, while police also discovered an AK-47, three pistols and five grenades.[10]

• Sindh Minister of Information Sharjeel Inam Memon pledged to bring peace to Karachi on Tuesday, claiming that peace within the crime-riddled metropolis is the priority of the government. Memon noted, “To protect the lives and property of citizens is the government’s prime responsibility.” [11]

• A policeman was shot and killed in the town of Charsadda, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa on Tuesday, as two men targeted the policeman on his way to the station.[12]

• Frontiers Corps personnel arrested three suspected militants on Tuesday in Quetta, discovering an arms cache consisting of three hand grenades, and 1,100 small arms rounds as well.[13]

 Iran-Pakistan Relations

• According to the Express Times in an article released on Monday, Iran’s Ministry of Petroleum in Commercial and International Affairs, along with Iran’s Tadbir Energy,which is slated to begin building the planned Pakistani-Iranian gas pipeline,are upset over Pakistani delays in the project. A Pakistani team was expected to visit Iran to finalize the details of the contract on June 3; however, the team missed the meeting, citing recent elections within Pakistan.[14]

Economy

• In an outline of the 2012-2013 Economic Survey for Pakistan on Tuesday, Finance Minister Ishaq Dar noted that nearly all of Pakistan’s economic expansion aims for the previous fiscal year fell short of their goals; the GDP growth rate was just 3.6 percent versus the targeted 4.3 percent for the year, industrial growth was at just 3.7 percent versus the target 4.1 percent of growth, while investments were at 14.2 percent. Furthermore, Dar pledged to reduced Pakistan’s current circular debt of Rs500 billion ($5.07 billion) in the next two months.[15]

• The Muttahida Quami Movement (MQM) released a shadow budget on Tuesday, one day before the new government’s prospective budget is set to be released. The MQM’s budget calls for increased government salaries and minimum wage, and is focused on ending unemployment, inflation and the current power crisis in Pakistan.[16]

Israel-Pakistan Relations

• According to a report released by Britain’s Department for Business, Innovation and Skills on Tuesday, Israel has supplied arms and security equipment to Pakistan, Egypt, the UAE, Algeria and Morocco. However, a spokesman for the Pakistan Army's Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR)denied the reports.[17]

 Domestic  

• Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif formed a Federal Cabinet Energy Committee on Tuesday in Islamabad in an attempt to combat Pakistan’s ongoing energy crisis. The committee will include the Ministers of Finance, Water and Power, Petroleum and Natural Resources, and the Punjab Chief Minister.[18] 

• Protests emerged in Peshawar and Swat on Tuesday in response to power cuts and “load-shedding” imposed by the Pakistan government in the current energy crisis. Protestors blocked main roads and burnt tires in defiance.[19]

• Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami party member Mohammad Khan Achakzai, former chief economist of Pakistan’s Planning Commission, was appointed Balochistan Governor on Tuesday by President Asif Ali Zardari.[20]

• Former president Pervez Musharraf was granted bail on Tuesday in the judges’ detention case by the Islamabad High Court. A Quetta an Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) rejected Musharraf’s bail application in the Akbar Khan Bugti murder case, however, and he remains in custody as a result.[21]