Pakistani internal security (catch all)

[davidbfpo]

From an IISS Strategic Comment on Pakistan, which takes an optimistic viewpoint and on internal security:

Security improved across the country in 2015. Under Operation Zarb-e-Azb, the Pakistani military has nearly completed its operations in the tribal areas bordering Afghanistan, in particular North Waziristan and Khyber Agencies, with displaced people beginning to return home. A high-level committee chaired by Sartaj Aziz, Pakistan's de factoforeign minister, has produced recommendations for the tribal areas – traditionally governed under antiquated arrangements dating from the British colonial era – that would gradually move them into the Pakistani political mainstream. The attack on the Army Public School in Peshawar at the end of 2014 led to a near national consensus on the need to tackle terrorism. Concerted counter-terrorism operations across the country have yielded impressive results. Pakistan Institute for Peace Studies' statistics indicate a 48% fall in terrorist-related attacks in 2015 compared to the year before and a 38% fall in the number of deaths. The deployment of paramilitary Rangers has also ameliorated the security situation in Karachi, Pakistan's business capital. To be sure, there have been major terrorist attacks this year, including a bomb targeting Christians in Lahore on Easter Sunday. Furthermore, groups posing transnational threats to India and Afghanistan have continued to operate from Pakistan. But the overall level of violence has been lower.

Note a full copy of the Comment is behind a paywall:http://www.iiss.org/en/publications/.../pakistan-e44d

The cited Pakistan Institute website has nothing readily found with the cited statistics:http://pakpips.com/index.php

[davidbfpo]

Thanks to a Pakistani "lurker" for the pointer to three new articles on policing, each takes a different focus.

Lahore, in Punjab Province, has a new police force, for odd reasons called 'Dolphin' whose role is officially a Patrolling Unit and Street Crime Unit. With some hi-tech equipment. Alas all is not well:

Initially, the Force created an impression of being an uncorrupt and efficient outfit. But, that image was soon dashed to pieces when, in random incidents, the DF cops were found guilty of taking bribe, resorting to misconduct, and causing a road accident that killed one.

Link:http://tns.thenews.com.pk/just-dandy-cops/

A broader view of attempts at police reform, where only the motorway police get good marks. This sentence explains:

The government does not follow the Constitution and the laws, the police does not accept its code of conduct or the rules of superintendence.

Link:http://tns.thenews.com.pk/case-police-reforms/

Does the image of policing matter:

The catch-22 in this situation is that an improved public image will undoubtedly help the police force to serve the public better, and yet this image can only be created and sustained if the force is able to drastically improve their calibre.

Link:http://tns.thenews.com.pk/matter-image/

[davidbfpo]

Thanks to a Pakistani "lurker" for the pointer to this excellent article, with two viewpoints from:

... Laurent Gayer, a French social scientist and author of Karachi: Ordered Disorder and the Struggle for the City (2014). For the past fifteen years, he has been studying Karachi’s complex sociopolitical and cultural environment. Omar Shahid Hamid is the second participant in the discussion. He has written two novels about Karachi, deriving mainly from his own experiences as the son of a slain bureaucrat, Shahid Hamid, and as a young police officer in Karachi in 2000s. He has recently rejoined the Karachi police force to work with the counterterrorism department.

Link:http://herald.dawn.com/news/1153570/...mid-on-karachi

[davidbfpo]

Hat tip to Strife, a Kings War Studies blog for Zoha Waseem's two articles on Daesh in Pakistan; she uses open sources and interviews mainly in Karachi. Slim author bio:http://www.kcl.ac.uk/sspp/department...hd/waseem.aspx

Part One 'An evolving militant landscape – Part I', which opens with:

Daesh, otherwise referred to as Islamic State or ISIL, has been expanding its presence around the world beyond its stronghold in Syria and Iraq. In the coming weeks, Strife will be focussing a number of articles more closely on emerging areas of concern in Asia, speaking with practitioners on the ground and academics who interrogate the potential threat posed by Daesh.

Link:https://strifeblog.org/2016/02/06/da...rt-i%E2%88%97/

Part Two 'The allure for the urban militant – Part II':https://strifeblog.org/2016/02/08/da...ant-part-ii-2/

[OUTLAW 09]

Pakistan special forces catches huge quantity of weapons from #iran backed shia militias in #parachinar

Mod adds:

Parachinar is the capital of Kurram Agency, and the largest city of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan. Parachinar is situated on a neck of Pakistani territory south of Peshawar, that juts into Paktia Province of Afghanistan

From:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parachinar

[OUTLAW 09]

Iran tells #Pakistan to shut down terror bases ... While operating Taliban camps and hosting al-Qaeda's lifeline:http://www.reuters.com/article/us-ir...-idUSKBN1840SY

[davidbfpo]

From the FT:

China has been quietly holding talks with Pakistani tribal separatists for more than five years in an effort to protect the $60bn worth of infrastructure projects it is financing as part of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor.

Link:https://www.ft.com/content/063ce350-...6-b9ccc4c4dbbb

One wonders will the locals, let alone the militants, be tempted by work or other options and so enable the road and port to operate? It's almost how it was before.

[davidbfpo]

A curious document, from September 2017 from a previously unheard of think tank (German-Pakistani) on the Chine-Pakistan Economic Corridor and somehow I doubt any pearls will be found.
Link to 50 pgs.:http://www.cpecinfo.com/news/the-rea...ction/NDg0Mw==

A Tweet pointed at the report as the facts on public opinion were striking.

[davidbfpo]

A review of the recent FT report on the Chinese talking to Baluch insurgents (See Post ) by a Washington DC author; which had this comment on Twitter from another SME:

Very useful, nuanced and interesting piece on China and Balochistan by @MalikSirajAkbar in light of reports of recent talks between Beijing and Baloch militants

The article starts with:

Both China and separatist Baloch nationalists in Balochistan have categorically denied a recent Financial Times report that revealed Beijing’s five-year-long covert contacts with the Baloch separatists to end the ongoing insurgency in the country’s largest province.

It ends with:

There is a need for Islamabad to step back and review the current political and security strategy. The government will have to accommodate local perspectives, promote community policing and hold consultation with all stakeholders to win the trust of the people. The insurgency erupted and then thrived for more than a decade in the absence of shrewd public policy. The Chinese might help Pakistan build roads and bridges, but they can’t teach Islamabad how to understand its own people, their grievances and perspectives.

Link:http://tns.thenews.com.pk/beijing-balochistan/

[davidbfpo]

A short commentary on the intense US aerial campaign against militant Islamist groups between 2009 and 2014, in Pakistan's tribal areas (FATA) and in particular North Waziristan.

It is part of an academic project into drones (UAV) at Birmingham University (UK):

we carried out more than 30 interviews and two general surveys, with more than 400 respondents, in Pakistan to assess the impact of the drones in the tribal areas. From what they told us, we learned that conflicting perceptions of the use of drones can shape not only conflict but also coexistence – and even cooperation.

It ends with a passage, which echoes much of what SWJ is about:

In a nutshell, the reason the drone campaign helped dash hopes of a settlement was the social, political, and cultural dynamics of Pakistan’s tribal region and the way the tribal system’s core elements were undermined. If you want to explain what happened to the short-lived peace process in Pakistan in 2013-14, you have to start there. And so does anyone charged with coming up with any new counter-insurgency strategy, whether it includes drone strikes or not.

Link:https://theconversation.com/interviews-with-pakistani-civilians-and-pervez-musharraf-tell-a-complicated-story-of-drone-warfare-102288?

[davidbfpo]

A commentary by RUSI's Raffaello Pantucci on an event in August 2018, he starts with:

The attempted suicide bombing against a bus carrying Chinese engineers in Dalbandin, Balochistan highlights the complexity of the security problems China faces in Pakistan. The attack was a rare suicide bombing for the Balochistan Liberation Army and was specifically targeting China. It showed how Beijing is finding itself dragged into a clash whose answer lies in the resolution of fundamental issues within Pakistan

Link:https://raffaellopantucci.com/2018/1...tructure-plan/

Then a headline from VoA: 'Pakistan Says Helping Tehran Rescue Kidnapped Iranian Forces' and a report that starts with:

Pakistan said Tuesday its military forces were working closely with those of neighboring Iran to locate more than a dozen Iranian security forces that militants kidnapped in a pre-dawn raid along the border. The announcement came hours after Tehran urged Islamabad to cooperate in securing freedom for 14 Iranian guards, including intelligence operatives.

Link:https://www.voanews.com/a/pakistan-s...-/4615879.html

It is suspected those involved are the anti-Iranian faction that hide in Balochistan.