Pakistan:
Press TV: Two schools have been destroyed in bomb attacks in Mohammad Agency, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. “No individual or group has claimed responsibility for the attack so far.
However, Tehrik-e Taliban Pakistan (TTP) militants are the main suspects in the incident. They have banned female education in northwestern Pakistan in a move that has affected thousands of girls and caused the number of enrollments to drop dramatically.”
The Independent: British intelligence officers could be charged of complicity of murder by launching drone strikes in Pakistan’s Tribal Areas. “British intelligence officers could be guilty of encouraging murder, or even war crimes, by supplying information to the CIA for drone attacks, it was claimed today.
The assertion that GCHQ officers could be complicit in the killing of civilians in Pakistan was made at the beginning of a two day hearing brought by lawyers for Noor Khan, whose father was killed in an attack by an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) in March 2011.”
Analysis: Michael Georgy writing for Reuters: Pakistan’s main security threat is its internal sectarian violence. “With a few hundred hard-core cadres, the highly secretive LeJ [Lashkar-e-Jhangvi] aims to trigger sectarian violence that would pave the way for a Sunni theocracy in U.S.-allied Pakistan, say Pakistan police and intelligence officials. Its immediate goal, they say, is to stoke the intense Sunni-Shi’ite violence that has pushed countries like Iraq close to civil war.”
Afghanistan:
Al Jazeera: At least ten members of Afghan security forces have been killed in a firefight with the Taliban in Herat province, Afghanistan. “A district police chief was among the five soldiers and five policemen killed in a late Monday raid on a convoy of security forces in Herat province.
‘The enemies of our country ambushed our police convoy by using the dark night which resulted in the martyrdom of five Afghan police including Bismullah Khan – chief of Aubi district’, said Bismullah Khan, provincial police spokesman.”
Brecorder: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan has urged Afghan President Karzai to accelerate efforts for political settlement among Afghan militant groups. “He continued, ‘I agree that the people of Pakistan and Afghanistan, who have common bonds of faith and history, must cooperate to take our countries out of poverty, deprivation and ignorance’. Imran said that all Afghans had a political stake in Afghanistan’s future. ‘I look forward to an opportunity to discuss this with you and pray to Almighty Allah to grant us the wisdom to lead our countries to a better and hopeful future,’ he concluded.”
India:
Analysis: Tom Wright writing for The Wall Street Journal: “More evidence is emerging that Saudi Arabia is deepening its cooperation with India in cracking down on terrorism suspects, an important trend that has implications for Pakistan’s bilateral relationship with Riyadh.” Having supported Pakistan financially over the previous decades, the majority-Sunni state has recently released several suspects to India (under the 2010 extradition treaty) including most recently Fasih Mehmood, an alleged member of the Indian Mujahideen.
Reasons for increased cooperation may include Saudi Arabian fear of out-of-control Pakistani proxies, or Saudi Arabian eagerness to cement a stronger trading relationship with India, a growing market for future oil consumption.”
