Pakistani internal security (catch all)

[davidbfpo]

An IISS Strategic Comment 'Bad times in Baluchistan', which reminds us that Pakistan has some problems.

In the past few months alone in Baluchistan, the death of a separatist leader and the discovery of the bullet-ridden corpses of many missing activists precipitated a general strike, while militants repeatedly blew up oil pipelines. Security-forces personnel and civilians were killed by landmines; and scores of ethnic Hazara Shia Muslims died in sectarian attacks. Taliban fighters also kidnapped two Swiss tourists, perpetrated a major suicide bombing in the provincial capital, Quetta..that killed 22...(the target being) Brig. Khurram Shahzad, the deputy head of the region's Frontier Corps.

Militant group Lashkar-e-Jhangvi has claimed responsibility for a recent series of deadly ambushes on Shia Hazara pilgrims - killing 14 in an attack on a minibus on 4 October, and 29 in the Mastung area of Quetta on 20 September. The group, also implicated in an attempt to assassinate Baluchistan's Chief Minister Nawab Aslam Rasiani in December 2010,

Here is a twist:

Major opium-processing hubs lie in the same Chagai Hills region as Pakistan's nuclear-testing facilities.

Link:http://www.iiss.org/publications/str...n-baluchistan/

[omarali50]

The Baloch separatists are relatively small in number and lack sanctuaries (NATO will probably push them out of Afghanistan one day in exchange for safe exit from Afghanistan) so they may be a nuisance for the Pak army but they are not a critical problem (that, at least, is the Pak army view).
Killings of Shias are unfortunate but cannot be helped because the main anti-shia militant group (LEJ) is connected with the same networks that are our "strategic assets" and cannot be cleaned out without jeopardising the "good jihadis". They are also funded by our brothers in Saudi Arabia, who are going to be ever more essential once the US dollar stream finally begins to dry up. It is sad, but sometimes that is the price we pay for mining copper at Saindak.
In short, killings in Balochistan will be a human rights issue, but will not have any "strategic" impact. On all sides, the "deep strategic thinkers" understand that some eggs have to be broken in order to make an omelette. In Pakistan, we will break many of them and not even cook the omelette. Sometimes, things don't work out so smoothly. What can one say..

[davidbfpo]

An Indian commentary that opens with:

t was pathetic to see Pakistan Interior Minister Rehman Malik thanking on 8 December the banned Tehrik-e-Taliban (TTP) for maintaining peace during Moharram, thus indicating the helplessness of his security machinery.

Then refers to a new report:

the December 2011 special report from the US Institute of Peace, "Who Controls Pakistani Security Forces" by Shuja Nawaz (Atlantic Council) offers new insight.

Link to cited report:http://www.usip.org/publications/who...ecurity-forces

On CT work:

... there is no coordinated counter-terrorist (CT) action in the country. 19 civilian agencies involved in internal security mount uncoordinated CT operations along with the state police

Link:http://www.sunday-guardian.com/analy...ntinue-to-rise

[davidbfpo]

I missed these two updates, hat tip to Circling the Lion's Den, on the Pakistan Taliban (TTP): http://circlingthelionsden.blogspot....n-taliban.html and http://circlingthelionsden.blogspot....s-deepens.html

From the later:

...money has dried up for the TTP and this has led to the desertion of former supporters, many of whom only fought for money. The TTP's shura, or ruling council, has shrunk from nearly 40 members to less than 10. The reason funds are in short supply, the article speculates, is that the Afghan Taliban has stopped paying the TTP because it is now in negotiations with the Afghan government.

[davidbfpo]

Placed here due to the wider impact on pakistan beyond the frontier provinces.

Hat tip to Circling the Lion's Den, with several updates on the talks between the Pakistan Taliban (TTP) and ISI, as indicated by:

We have drawn the broader outlines for a possible accord. And what we're now working on are minor details...These are crucial times ...we have to be extremely careful. A slight miscalculation can harm us in a big way," an intelligence official told The Express Tribune

Link:http://circlingthelionsden.blogspot....-isi-deal.html

The TTP factions have regrouped:

According to reports coming from Pakistan, a new organisation called the Shura-e-Murakbah, made up of the remnants of what was once the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), has been created in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas.

The author comments:

Three points should be drawn from this news: first, that al-Qaeda is still an important player - and, more importantly, financier - of the various jihadi factions in Pakistan. That is why they are at the table; second, support by Mullah Omar for this unification move may have more to do with unfolding events in Afghanistan than with a concern for uniting the notoriously unruly Pashtun tribes in Pakistan; and third, don't put any money on this agreement holding up for any length of time.

Link:http://circlingthelionsden.blogspot....ite-under.html

The murder of fifteen Frontier Corps jawans taken prisoner in late December by a TTP group, which most of the Pakistani press have ignored:http://circlingthelionsden.blogspot....ns-by-ttp.html