Pakistan Security Brief

TTP pledges loyalty to Zawahiri as al Qaeda chief; Secretary Gates and Admiral Mullen emphasize crucial nature of U.S.-Pakistan relations; Twelve militants killed in second day of Bajaur fighting; Shahzad investigation commission delayed by controversy; Peshawar “shuts down” over fears of bombing; Forty-one killed in Karachi since Monday; Tribesman block NATO supplies in Balochistan.

  Reaction to Zawahiri Announcement

• The Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) pledged loyalty to Ayman al-Zawahiri as al Qaeda’s new leader and “vowed to carry out attacks against Western targets.” TTP spokesman Ehsanullah Ehsan described Zawahiri as a “capable person” who would inspire new attacks on the West. Reuters reports that support from groups like the TTP could “determine” his ability to “strengthen an organisation that has lost steam since the Sept. 11 attacks a decade ago.”[i]

• Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Mike Mullen responded to Zawahiri’s appointment with assurances that the U.S. would “capture and kill” Zawahiri as they did Osama Bin Laden. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates noted that Zawahiri did not have the “peculiar charisma” that enabled Bin Laden to lead al Qaeda. Gates and other officials also stressed the extent to which Zawahiri had been less operationally involved than Bin Laden, calling him an “armchair general.”[ii]

U.S.-Pakistan Relations

• In a joint public appearance on Thursday, Secretary Gates and Admiral Mullen emphasized the importance of the U.S.-Pakistan relationship. Secretary Gates stressed that the two countries “need each other . . . more than just in the context of Afghanistan.” Admiral Mullen warned that pulling out of the region too early could exacerbate security conditions and later draw the U.S. back into the region “to protect . . . national interests.” According to Dawn, President Barack Obama will soon send Admiral Mullen to Pakistan to both offer more support in combating militant groups and suggest how best to address security issues in Pakistan.[iii]

• On Thursday, a Pakistani delegation lead by Ambassador Husain Haqqani told U.S. lawmakers Pakistan was investigating a possible intelligence leak relating to the failed raids on bomb-making facilities in Waziristan. According to the Express Tribune, the Pakistani army’s Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) has denied any leaking of information to militants in the incident. The delegation also assured the lawmakers that Pakistan was investigating how Osama Bin Laden could have remained in Abbottabad for years without being found.[iv]

• The Daily Telegraph reports that Pakistan is blocking supplies “from reaching a remote base used by the US for its secret drones program.” The Pakistani security establishment frequently expresses public disapproval of U.S. drone strikes. This report comes after renewed assurances of security and intelligence cooperation between the two countries.[v]

• According to Dawn, the U.S. will give Pakistan two new P3C Orion aircraft to replace those destroyed in the May 22 attack on the Pakistani naval base PNS Mehran. On May 22, terrorists breached the security of PNS Mehran and destroyed two P3C Orion aircraft. Official sources told Dawn, the loss of the aircraft may have temporarily limitied Pakistan’s counterterrorism capabilities.[vi]

FATA

• On Friday, “security forces killed 12 militants during a search operation” in the Mamund area of Bajaur. On Thursday, several hundred militants crossed the border from Afghanistan and attacked locals in Bajaur. According to AFP, “five civilians and nine militants were killed in Thursday’s clash.” AFP reports Friday’s “skirmishes took place in the Sarakai and Mukha areas northwest of Khar.”[vii]

• On Thursday,  tribesman in North Waziristan protested U.S. drone strikes in the region by “block[ing] the main Bannu-Miramshah Road . . . [with the] bodies of the four tribesmen killed in Wednesday’s drone attack.” The four tribesmen were killed when their car was struck by drone-fired missiles. According to The News, the vehicle did not have tinted windows “and those seated in it were clearly visible.”[viii]

• On Thursday, a NATO oil tanker and “three other vehicles” were destroyed “when a time-bomb went off in an oil-tanker on the Landi Kotal Bypass Road.” According to The News, “the Abdullah Azzam Brigade, a militant group linked to the TTP, claimed responsibility for the bomb attack.”[ix]

Violence against Journalists

• Controversy has surrounded the commission formed to investigate the death of Pakistani journalist Syed Saleem Shahzad. Dawn reports that “questions have been raised” about whether or not the commission can be formed without the consent of Pakistan’s Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry. Information Minister Dr. Firdous Ashiq Awan, who announced the commission on Thursday in response to protests regarding Shahzad’s death, insists that the government is, by law, justified in forming such a commission without the consent of the Supreme Court. Asma Jehangir of the Supreme Court Bar Association accused the government of “committing undue interference in affairs of the superior judiciary.”[x]

Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa

• Peshawar “shut down” on Thursday after rumors spread of a possible suicide attack on the headquarters of the Frontier Constabulary. In an unrelated incident, “police claimed to have arrested 15 suspected militants in two separate raids in Barikot sub-district and Charbagh in Swat district on Thursday.”[xi]

Karachi

• The number of deaths resulting from target killings in Karachi since Monday has risen to forty-one. According to The News, the violence has spread from Orangi town to “Saddar, Ghas Mandi, Lyari, PIB Colony, Malir, Saoodabad and North Nazimabad.”[xii]

Balochistan

• Hundreds of tribesman blocked a NATO supply route near the Afghan border in Balochistan. According to the BBC, the blockade at the Chaman border crossing lasted for at least four hours. The blockade was a response to a violent clash between tribesmen and Afghan border guards on Thursday. The blockade reportedly ended “after security officials held talks with tribal elders and assured them their grievances would be passed on to the Afghan authorities.”[xiii]
• The News reports, “Quetta Police on Thursday arrested five Afghan nationals who crossed into Pakistan from Chaman without possessing legal travelling documents.” According to APP, “unidentified attackers blew up a 16-inch diametre gas pipeline in the Pirkoh area of Dera Bugti on Friday.”[xiv]