Pakistan Security Brief

Second round of peace talks between government and TTP underway at undisclosed location in North Waziristan; TTP, government agree to extension of ceasefire and exchange of non-combatant prisoners; U.S. drones reportedly watch tribal areas during talks; Minister for States and Frontier Regions rejects possibility that the government will offer concessions to the TTP;  Congress cuts $10 million in aid to Pakistan to fund relief to Ukraine; Counterterrorism Department of Punjab Police publishes latest most-wanted list; Several dozen militants reportedly travel from Pakistan to Syria; Alleged TTP commander captured in Afghanistan; Finance Minister says $1.5 billion grant from Saudi Arabia does not have to be repaid; Pakistan to raise electricity tariffs to pay off circular debt.

Peace Talks

• On Wednesday, the second round of peace talks between the government-nominated negotiating committee and five members of the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) central shura commenced in North Waziristan. The government committee flew by helicopter from Peshawar to Miram Shah, and then proceeded to an undisclosed location to meet the shura. According to some sources, the meeting is likely taking place in the Shawa sub-district of North Waziristan, although others have suggested Spinwam and Toda Cheena as possible locations. The TTP shura representatives include Qari Shakeel, Azam Tariq, Maulvi Zakir, Qari Bashir, and one other unnamed member. At the meeting, the government team demanded that the TTP declare an indefinite ceasefire, to which the TTP reportedly responded positively. The conversion of the month-long ceasefire agreement into an indefinite ceasefire was at the top of the government committee’s priority list. Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazlur (JUI-F) leader Maulana Fazlur Rehman commented that talks between the two sides would not be fruitful without the participation of the army.[1]

• A Wednesday article in Dawn reported that the first round of talks took place in the Biland Khel area of Shawa sub-district, North Waziristan agency. At the conclusion of talks, both sides reported to have reached an agreement on several issues, including an extension of the ceasefire and the exchange of non-combatant prisoners.[2]

• On Wednesday, The News reported that U.S. drones were flying over Pakistan’s tribal belt as talks began between the government committee and TTP shura representatives in North Waziristan. The drone sighting comes one day after Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif stated that there have been no drone strikes in the last 90 days, which the Prime Minister saw as a good sign for ongoing peace talks between the government and the TTP.[3]

• According to a Tuesday article in VOA News, the Minister for States and Frontier Regions, Abdul Qadir Baloch, stated that TTP militants involved in peace talks will not be given a political role in future arrangements made to help stabilize the tribal areas, despite requests by the local TTP insurgents to be included. The minister also rejected any possibility of offering political concessions to the TTP, adding that the local populations in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) will be unlikely to reconcile with former militants even if a settlement between the TTP and the government is reached.[4]

U.S.-Pakistan Relations

• According to a Wednesday report in Geo News, the United States Congress has cut $10 million in aid to Pakistan and redirected the money to Ukraine to fund radio programming there.[5]

Militancy

• A Wednesday article in The News reported that the Counterterrorism Department (CTD) of the Punjab Police published the latest version of its “Red Book,” which contains the names and photographs of some of Pakistan’s most wanted terrorists. Mati-ur-Rahman, a terrorist from Bahawalpur, Punjab, was listed at the top of the Red Book; neither Ayman al Zawahri nor Mullah Fazlullah were included, however. The book also named 21 most wanted terrorists who were involved in the planning of suicide attacks in Punjab province.[6]

• According to a Tuesday report in The New York Times, several dozen al Qaeda militants have left Pakistan to fight in the Syria conflict. Director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) John Brennan has expressed concern that some of these fighters could be planning to use Syria as a sanctuary to launch attacks against the West.[7]

• On Wednesday, security forces in Afghanistan captured an alleged TTP commander, identified as Mitahuddin, after he had crossed into Narai and then Kamdesh in Nuristan province, Afghanistan. He reportedly hails from Chitral district, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, and reportedly crossed the border to carry out attacks to derail the upcoming elections in Afghanistan.[8]

• On Tuesday, a bomb disposal squad (BDS) defused a bomb at a university in Khairpur, Sindh that was in a bag on the top of a bus. A spokesman for the university called reports of the bomb “a hoax.”[9]

Domestic

• On Wednesday, Finance Minister Ishaq Dar said that the recent $1.5 billion loan to Pakistan from Saudi Arabia was a gift and does not have to be repaid.[10]

• On Tuesday, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif addressed other world leaders in a speech at the Hague in the Netherlands. He called for striking “a balance” on nuclear security “between confidentiality and openness.” Sharif was also included in a joint statement by 35 world leaders calling for increased nuclear security.[11]

• According to a Wednesday report in The Express Tribune, Pakistan has promised the International Monetary Fund (IMF) that it will pay off $3 billion, borrowed from domestic banks in order to clear circular debt in the energy sector, by raising electricity tariffs on consumers by 7-8 percent.[12]

• On Wednesday, Akram Shaikh, the chief prosecutor in the treason trial of former President Pervez Musharraf, said that he expects the trial to last eight to ten days. The hearings for the trial began on Wednesday.[13]