VZCZCXRO8423
OO RUEHLH RUEHPW
DE RUEHIL #1201/01 1531527
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 021527Z JUN 09
FM AMEMBASSY ISLAMABAD
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 3028
INFO RUEHBUL/AMEMBASSY KABUL PRIORITY 0399
RUEHLO/AMEMBASSY LONDON PRIORITY 0519
RUEHNE/AMEMBASSY NEW DELHI PRIORITY 5002
RUEHKP/AMCONSUL KARACHI PRIORITY 1752
RUEHLH/AMCONSUL LAHORE PRIORITY 7352
RUEHPW/AMCONSUL PESHAWAR PRIORITY 6294
RHMFISS/CDR USCENTCOM MACDILL AFB FL PRIORITY
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC PRIORITY
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 ISLAMABAD 001201 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PREF MOPS EAID PTER PK PINR
SUBJECT: MILITARY OPERATIONS AND HUMANITARIAN SITUATION 
UPDATE JUNE 2 
 
REF: A. ISLAMABAD 1194 
     ¶B. ISLAMABAD 1184 
     ¶C. ISLAMABAD 1169 
 
¶1. (SBU) Summary: President Asif Zardari met June 2 with 
political, military and law enforcement chiefs for Pakistan's 
four provinces to discuss overall security in the country. 
Each province is slated to stand up anti-terrorist units. 
The curfew has been lifted in some of Swat district's main 
cities/towns.  Security forces launched operations in two 
remaining militant strongholds.  In a recent meeting convened 
by the Mansehra District Coordination Officer, NGOs working 
in Mansehra were alerted to an impending possible 
displacement of 20,000 people from Shangla due to possible 
military operations.  The International Committee of the Red 
Cross (ICRC) is likely to issue by June 5 a preliminary 
appeal for funding for at least $40 million, which will 
almost double its program in Pakistan.  End summary. 
 
The Political Front 
- - - - - - - - - - 
 
¶2. (U) President Asif Zardari chaired a high-level meeting in 
Islamabad on June 1 to review the overall security situation 
in the country (ref A).  The meeting was attended by Prime 
Minister Yousuf Gilani, other key Federal Ministers, Chief of 
Army Staff Ashfaq Kayani, Director General of Inter-Services 
Intelligence (ISI) Ahmed Shuja Pasha, as well as the 
provincial Chief Ministers, Police Inspector Generals, and 
the Northwest Frontier Province (NWFP) Governor.  It was 
decided that 25,000-strong anti-terrorist units would be 
raised for each province irrespective of the size or 
population of the province.  It was also decided that 
security scanners would be placed at entry points of major 
cities. 
 
¶3. (U) Allocation of resources to provinces for maintenance 
of law and order was also reportedly discussed.  The NWFP 
separately demanded special allocations from the federal 
government, arguing the province has suffered 
disproportionately.  The demand was made by NWFP Information 
Minister Mian Iftikhar Hussain during a media briefing 
following the Zardari meeting. 
 
¶4. (U) Meanwhile, Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI-F) leadership has 
called on the GOP to end the military operation in Swat by 
June 10 or face nationwide agitation. 
 
¶5. (SBU) Infighting between district nazims (mayors) and GOP 
civil servants may explain some statements in the press that 
the humanitarian need is greater than that which humanitarian 
organizations and USG personnel have witnessed. 
 
In NWFP 
- - - - 
 
¶6. (U) On June 1, the military lifted the daytime curfew for 
Swat's main towns of Bahrain, Madyan, Fetehpur, Khwazakhela, 
Matta and Alpurai, as well as for the Shangla district.  NWFP 
Health Director General Fazle Masood ordered doctors and 
medical staff in Swat to report for duty immediately. 
 
¶7. (U) Also in Swat, security forces launched operations in 
two remaining militant strongholds -- Charbagh tehsil, 20 
kilometers from Mingora, and Peochar valley.  (Note: A 
"tehsil" is an administrative unit smaller than a district.) 
Security forces claimed to have killed 18 militants and 
arrested another 13, while thousands of Charbagh residents 
fled the fighting.  The Director General of Inter-Services 
Public Relations (ISPR) Major General Athar Abbas 
acknowledged that no top militant commanders had been killed 
or captured and that a number of militants had escaped from 
Swat "to fight another day." 
 
¶8. (SBU) A contact who returned to Mingora over the weekend 
of May 30 told Consulate Peshawar that shops were open and 
civilians were walking openly in the streets, which are 
heavily patrolled by Pakistani military and police.  He had 
heard anecdotal reports from residents about significant 
civilian casualties.  He noted the damage to the physical 
infrastructure of Mingora was significant and there was 
considerable resentment directed toward the Pakistani 
 
ISLAMABAD 00001201  002 OF 003 
 
 
military by the residents of Mingora who had not evacuated. 
In addition to their anger over civilian casualties, many had 
been without food for up to five days due to the curfew and 
ongoing military operations. 
 
¶9. (U) Though Pakistani military operations continued in the 
Pir Baba area of northern Buner over June 1-2, NWFP 
Information Minister Iftikhar Hussain stated on June 1 that 
Buner District was almost "completely clear" and ready for 
the return of displaced persons (IDPs).  Hussain claimed the 
provincial government had contacted 40 percent of Buner's 
government workers; they were expected to return to duty 
within the next few days.  Buner's District Police Officer 
(DPO) dismissed about 160 policemen, including a 
sub-inspector and three assistant sub-inspectors, for not 
complying with such directives and for absence from duty. 
 
¶10. (U) In a probable indication of the imminent start of 
military operations, on June 2, a curfew was announced via 
television news for Shangla district. 
 
Humanitarian Situation 
- - - - - - - - - - - 
 
¶11. (SBU) Post has heard unconfirmed rumors the new GOP 
estimate for the total number of IDPs may be released as 
early as June 3, with figures decreasing to as low as 1.7 
million. 
 
¶12. (SBU) NGOs reported that IDPs are currently undecided as 
to whether to return to the Swat Valley.  Reportedly, some 
male heads of household are returning to assess damage to 
family residences.  To date, EmbOffs have made more than 73 
visits to 25 formal and informal IDP camps and communities. 
In an NGO focus group with female IDPs in southern Buner 
district, NWFP, participants indicated that the primary needs 
were food, safe drinking water, health services, and a safe 
environment for returning.  The IDP women expressed 
particular concern regarding lack of food because the nearest 
UN World Food Program (WFP) distribution point was 
approximately 16 kilometers from the village. 
 
¶13. (SBU) The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian 
Affairs (OCHA) is augmenting information management capacity 
with three additional staff arriving this week to work on 
humanitarian mapping.  OCHA will meet with all U.N. cluster 
heads on June 3 to discuss improving information management. 
OCHA is also launching a website that will include key 
documents and cluster updates. 
 
¶14. (SBU) Through the end of May 2009, the International 
Organization for Migration (IOM) had delivered the following 
USG-funded non-food items for IDPs to the UNHCR warehouse in 
Nowshera: 400 tents, 21,780 fleece blankets, 48,907 quilts, 
57,500 sleeping mats, 15,372 ten-liter water containers, 
14,040 mosquito nets, 31,540 twenty-liter plastic buckets, 
11,900 kitchen sets, and 10,300 packages of soap. 
 
¶15. (SBU) The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) 
is likely to issue by June 5 a preliminary appeal for funding 
for at least $40 million, which will almost double its 
program in Pakistan.  The primary focus of the expanded 
program will be delivery of relief assistance wherever the 
need is greatest in Malakand, Buner, and Mardan districts of 
NWFP.  ICRC will also increase its presence in Swat district 
and is gearing up to assist IDPs from Waziristan, FATA. 
According to an ICRC representative speaking to RefCoor June 
2, the organization's intention is to provide a massive 
relief response, coordinated with other humanitarian 
assistance providers, over a limited time period (septel). 
 
¶16. (SBU) In a recent meeting convened by the Mansehra 
District Coordination Officer, NGOs working in Mansehra were 
alerted to an impending possible displacement of 20,000 
people from Shangla due to military operations.  According to 
an NGO present, the district authorities proposed two sites 
for establishment of IDP camps -- at Chattar Class, 30 
kilometers north of the city, and at Jabba, some 15 
kilometers east of Mansehra.  Despite this initial request, 
the GOP subsequently decided to bring people out from Shangla 
through Mingora, then Lower Dir and Malakand, to Charsadda; 
the District Relief Commissioner provided transport to 400 
 
ISLAMABAD 00001201  003 OF 003 
 
 
families on June 1.  UNHCR indicated there are currently 
about 500 families in the Charsadda camp, which is full, but 
another 500 families can be accommodated in the sugar mill at 
Charsadda, and others thereafter in a camp opening June 2 in 
Peshawar. 
 
Other Areas 
- - - - - - 
 
¶17.  (U) Pakistan media reports regarding a militant attack 
on a "NATO truck terminal" at Chaman Pass, Balochistan, 
turned out to be an attack on seven trucks of a 
transportation subcontractor to Maersk-Pakistan, one of 
several contractors which transport U.S. cargo to 
Afghanistan.  The trucks, described as "returning empty from 
Afghanistan," were set on fire; three were completely 
destroyed. 
 
¶18.  (U) Initial media reports of the kidnapping of over 500 
students by the Taliban in North Waziristan, Federally 
Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), also were inaccurate. 
Instead, approximately 71 students of a Defense Ministry-run, 
private preparatory school, described as a "privileged 
boarding school," were briefly held hostage June 1 by 
unidentified assailants in an apparent ransom scheme, before 
being rescued the morning of June 2.  (Further details 
reported Peshawar septel.) 
 
PATTERSON