Check this out; and watch out for it every day, M-F, here! January 26th, Pakistan Security Note Editorial Snapshot Army Chief in China: Perhaps to counter Barack Obama’s grand reception in New Delhi, Pakistans Army Chief General Raheel Sharif is visiting China on a three day trip; On Sunday, pictures of him meeting Chinas Central Military Commissions Vice Chairman, General Fan Changlong, were circulated by ISPR, which also claimed support from the PLA and a pledge to be “Iron brothers” from Beijing. According to the ISPR, General Fan praised the Pakistan Armys role in the counter-insurgent operation Zarb-e-Azb. ALSO: Local media is reporting that the Chinese FM will be in Pakistan during Feb. Obama in India: US President Barack Obama and the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday announced that they had reached an agreement to break the deadlock on a civilian nuclear deal that had been stalling for over six years (and had Pakistan worried for longer); Foreign Policy wonks in D.C. suggest that Obama may urge Modi to resume dialog with Pakistan, while Modi pressed that he wants a direct hotline between the White and his office, and also wants to connect the national security advisors of the two country via the same communication mechanism. Pakistan, was largely missing from the narrative, even as Obama attended a grand Republic Day parade (which was big on culture and more subdued on military might) on Monday morning, even as China told India not to fall in the US “trap”. Rebels cause Pakistan’s “biggest blackout?” The weekend was spent in confusion, and darkness, as different government ministers gave different versions about an electricity breakdown considered on of the country’s worst (an estimated 80 percent of the country was off the grid) since the power crisis worsened around seven years ago; a key government minister, blaming the disruption on Baloch rebels, has promised that operations would resume to normal – with scheduled power outages instead of unscheduled one – by Monday evening. The blackout was, of course, just days after the still unresolved “Petro-Crisis”, that led to millions of consumers of gasoline queuing up for hours over most of last week across northern Pakistan as supplies ran out (this was slammed a governance failure by a local think tank, and has also led to disclosures by Pakistan’s bureaucrats about nepotism within the ruling PMLN). Meanwhile, on the Indo-Pak Border…: Tensions on the Working Boundary (which connects mainland Pakistan with disputed Jammu) continued, as Pakistan’s paramilitary Rangers reported heavy Indian shelling” of Pakistani villages from across the working boundary. Meanwhile, Indian media claimed that the paramilitary Border Security Force intercepted three would-be suicide bombers who were getting “covering fire” from the Pakistanis. Spy games in the Bengal? Indian authorities on Friday arrested a 35 year-old man in Kolkatta accused of passing on sensitive information related to Indias missile sites to Pakistans Inter Services Intelligence spy agency. Mil engages politicos on Waziristan: Just as the ‘return home’ date of more than a million displaced persons, forced to flee North Waziristan due to ongoing military operations, was announced, the Pakistani Senates Standing Committee on Defense visited North Waziristan. Senators were even shown the Haqqani Networks “damaged infrastructure” even as the Army reiterated its new stand of “no distinction between good and bad terrorists”; Meanwhile, the US has said that it has no confirmation on Pakistan banning the Haqqani Network or Jamat-ud-Dawa (JuD) even as it realizes that the country was reassessing measures to root out extremism in the country; amid confusion over whether the government has banned JuD or not, the organization’s chief Hafiz Saeed has said that the restrictions were nothing new and that his organization would continue with its welfare work across Pakistan. Terror Roundup: Even as Afghan Border Police officials visited General Headquarters in Rawalpindi, the governments post-Peshawar massacre “National Action Plan” set in motion over the weekend as more than 1800 have been arrested from all over Pakistan for making “fiery” speeches and other terrorism related charges; CIA police in Lahore arrested eight employees of a leading cellular company for selling unregistered SIM cards illegally to the suspects involved in Peshawar carnage; government lawyers refused to appear before the court for the late governor Salman Taseers assassination case as police fails to provide security to them; An anti-terror court has issued “black warrants” against two Lashkar-e-Jhangvi militants involved in a doctors killing; An operation has been launched against charity boxes installed by banned outfits in mosques, shops and other areas in Lahore; And security forces on Saturday arrested three militants including a local commander of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan during an operation in Balochistans Harnai district. Dark Justice vs Due Process: A teenager who was a suspect in the rape and murder of a seven year-old in Lahore was killed in an “armed encounter” with the Lahore police as he tried to make an “escape bid”; the suspect was being transported by police to a court when he was killed. Airports on alert: Security of Pakistan’s all major airports beefed up after an intelligence report suggested a threat. Briefs · Cross-dressers break the mold in conservative Pakistan · Modi-Obama set terms of endearment. · US and India: Rebalancing against Chinas rise. · 35 militants killed in Datta Khel, North Waziristan airstrikes. · 200 militants killed in Kunar province in Afghanistan, says Afghan envoy. · India-US ask Pakistan to bring perpetrators of 26/11 to justice. · Afghan-Pakistan military leaders co-ordinate border security. CT/Terror/Security Activity & Alerts · Destroyed Haqqani Network infrastructure shown to senators. · Airports placed on red alert. · Indian Border Security Force shells Pakistani villages. · Over 1800 arrested across Pakistan. · Philantho-militant Hafiz Saeed unmoved by talk of ban. · Eight held for issuing illegal SIMs to Peshawar attackers. · Government lawyers not ready to prosecute Mumtaz Qadri. · Two LeJ militants to be hanged soon. · Operation launched against charity boxes. · 3 TTP militants arrested from Balochistan. Politics & Diplomacy · Obama may urge resumption of Indo-Pak dialogue. · US says no confirmation on JuD and Haqqani Network ban. · Power breakdown caused by militants blowing up transmission lines in Balochistan: Govt · India and US break nuclear deadlock. · Arrested Indian accused of passing on military secrets to ISI. · Chinese military praises Pakistans army role in fight against terror. Interesting Reads · Pakistan sneaks into US India strategic vision (DAWN) · Obamas India visit (DAWN) · Analysis: Tracking terror money mission impossible? (DAWN) · US forensics big shot comes home to help Pakistan (Reuters) · Widespread blackout in Pakistan deals another blow to the Government (The New York Times) · Pakistans Energy Crunch fuels little but outrage (Foreign Policy) · The man with a plan (The Economist) · The Taliban (Council on Foreign Relations) · Seeing Obama push to talk to Pakistan, New Delhi sees Lashkar ban as bait (Indian Express) · John Kerry and Pakistani counterparts must look beyond the narrow terror framework (Council on Foreign Relations) · India and its South Asian neighbors, where does the US fit in (Brookings)
Posted on: Mon, 26 Jan 2015 13:21:15 +0000
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