Pakistan Security Brief

Obama administration speaks publicly about drone strikes; White House counterterrorism advisor says strikes are “ethical;” ACLU asks U.S. Justice Department to release documents pertaining to drone program; Pakistan’s Foreign Office lodges formal protest against Sunday’s drone strike; CNN reports on “treasure trove” of documents recovered from bin Laden’s compound; Huffington Post says Pakistan failed to give answers about bin Laden’s presence in Pakistan; Nawaz Sharif to organize mass movement to force Prime Minister Gilani to step down; Pakistani courts to hear petitions seeking Gilani’s removal; Death toll for security operation in Lyari reaches 33; Afghan government official claims ISI killed senior Taliban members; Red Cross confirms that it had contact with British aid worker’s kidnappers.

U.S. Drone Program

• White House counterterrorism advisor John Brennan defended drone strikes in a speech at the Woodrow Wilson Center in DC on Monday. This was the first time that the Obama administration has formally acknowledged and publicly spoken about the U.S. drone program in such extensive detail. Brennan said that President Obama wanted to be more transparent about drone strikes so that the American public could be more informed about U.S. efforts against terrorism. Brennan argued that the “strikes were ethical, proportional and conformed to U.S. efforts to spare innocent civilians” from becoming casualties. However, Brennan refused to disclose how many people have been killed, the locations where drones are being used, or the administration’s use of “signature” strikes, which allow the CIA to fire missiles at suspicious people whose identities are unknown.[1]

• The American Civil Liberties Union has demanded that the U.S. Justice Department release all documents pertaining to the U.S. drone program, and said that John Brennan’s statement was an “unambiguous acknowledgement” that “supplies legal conclusions, not legal analysis.”[2]

• Pakistan’s Foreign Office summoned U.S. Political Councilor Jonathan Pratt on Monday to lodge a formal protest against Sunday’s drone strike, which reportedly killed four militants and injured three others in Miram Shah, North Waziristan.[3]

Osama bin Laden

• CNN reported on the "treasure trove" of more than 6,000 documents that were recovered by U.S. Navy Seals during the raid on Osama bin Laden’s Abbottabad compound in May 2011. According to the documents, bin Laden appears to have been a micro-manager who was deeply involved in the intricate details of al Qaeda’s internal affairs within Pakistan. He also understood the danger of U.S. drone strikes in Pakistan’s tribal regions that had been “decimating” al Qaeda’s leadership since 2008. The documents also revealed that al Qaeda reportedly told the Pakistani Taliban to stop its counterproductive killing of Pakistani civilians.[4]

• According to Huffington Post, one year since the U.S. raid that killed bin Laden, Pakistan has “failed to answer tough questions” about whether its government and/or military were giving bin Laden safe haven. Pakistan formed a committee to investigate bin Laden’s presence in Pakistan and the circumstances surrounding the raid, but a spokesman for the committee said last week that the findings might not be released publicly. Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) Directorate said that bin Laden’s presence in Pakistan was due to an “intelligence failure,” but suspicions have increased since one of bin Laden’s wives recently revealed that bin Laden lived in five houses and fathered two children that were born in Pakistani government hospitals.[5]

Domestic Politics

• Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Chief Nawaz Sharif said Monday that if Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani does not resign, Sharif and his party are planning to launch a mass movement with other opposition parties such as the Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf (PTI), Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam and Jamaat-e-Islami to force Gilani to step down. The PTI has not yet signed on to work with PML-N, but the two parties met on Tuesday to discuss how to force Gilani to leave office. [6]

• The Islamabad High Court will hear a petition on May 2, which calls for the removal of Gilani from the prime minister’s office and the dissolution of the federal cabinet. The petition filed by Advocate G.M. Chaudhry on Monday states that Gilani is disqualified from being a member of the National Assembly and is no longer prime minister due to his contempt conviction. Another petition seeking Gilani’s removal will be heard in the Sindh High Court on May 3.[7]

Lyari

• The security operation against gangs and criminal elements in Karachi’s Lyari area entered its fifth day on Tuesday, with the death toll reaching 33, including six policemen. Criminals used hand grenades, rocket propelled grenades and sophisticated automatic weapons against the security forces. Approximately 150 families from neighborhoods affected by the operation were relocated to safer parts of the city on Monday.[8]

Afghanistan-Pakistan Relations

• An Afghan government official claimed on Monday that Pakistan’s ISI allegedly killed the Afghan Taliban military council’s deputy head, Maulvi Ismail, along with 25 other senior Taliban members for holding secret peace talks with the U.S.[9]

Militancy

• A spokesman for the Red Cross in Britain confirmed on Monday that the Red Cross had been in contact with British aid worker, Khalil Dale’s kidnappers, but it did not want to encourage future kidnappers by saying it “countenanced paying a ransom.” The spokesman said that the Red Cross will review its operations within Pakistan and conduct a risk-benefit analysis of working in different parts of the country.[10]

• On Tuesday, a bomb targeting a Frontier Corps convoy and planted in a car near the Water and Power Development Authority grid station on Saryab Road in Quetta, Balochistan killed five people and wounded at least five others.[11]

• A roadside bomb targeting a police patrol exploded on Charsadda Road in Peshawar, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa on Monday, killing one police officer and injuring another.[12]

Military

• General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani said on Monday that the Pakistan Army believes in the continuity of a strong democracy that helps a country develop and prosper. Kayani stated that the armed forces are capable of protecting Pakistan’s sovereignty, and their objective is to “strengthen the country.”[13]