Summary On September 23rd, Reuters reported that three intelligence officials confirmed that Pakistani troops and tribesman shot down a suspected US military unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) over South Waziristan. If true, Pakistan’s fast developing UAV industry could find itself bolstered with the latest American UAV technology. Analysis Viewed in the context of multiplying reports covering [...]

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The media has been awash with reports of President Pervez Musharraf’s impending resignation in the face of the current coalition government’s move to impeach him. Late last week, both the Wall Street Journal and New York Times had issued reports that Musharraf was going to resign within days, with the Wall Street Journal going as [...]

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From the Insider Brief to Pakistanis everywhere: happy independence day! As the nation celebrates its 61st year of existence, we hope for a brighter future for Pakistan and its people. May each passing year bring us all closer to realizing a more prosperous and progressive Pakistan. Pakistan Paindabad.

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Summary Today, Asif Zardari and Nawaz Sharif, chairmen of Pakistan’s two largest parties agreed in principle to impeach President Pervez Musharraf. The agreement, however, is contingent on all coalition partners supporting the move. Just as there has been little-to-no “progress” on the reinstatement of the justices Musharraf sacked, it is just as unlikely that Musharraf [...]

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On July 26th, it was announced that Prime Minister Gilani’s cabinet had taken the decision to place the ISI under the complete control of the Interior Ministry. As our sources reported, uproar ensued in the military establishment and less than 24 hours later, the decision was reversed. Zardari’s Miscalculation It’s an open secret that Benazir [...]

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On the eve of his first visit to the United States, Prime Minister Yousaf Gilani and his cabinet made the decision to place Pakistan’s premier intelligence agency, the ISI, under the jurisdiction of the the Interior Ministry alongside the Intelligence Bureau. As a result, the Interior Ministry, headed by Rehman Malik, will have administrative, financial [...]

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The Intel Insider Brief sources report that Pakistani intelligence officials have recently been engaged in a spate of closed-door meetings. The topic of discussion? The ouster of Asif Ali Zardari and the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) from power and the engineered return of Nawaz Sharif. The Why The news in and of itself should not [...]

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We at the Insider Brief would like to thank all of our readers for your patience during our brief hiatus. To make up for our absence, we’ll be introducing some new features and guest contributors in the coming weeks. In the meanwhile, expect some new posts as we attempt to make sense of the events [...]

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Ejecting Ejaz’s Men This past week saw a shakeup in Pakistan’s regional Military Intelligence (MI) organization with the naming of new MI chiefs for Punjab and Sindh. Brigadier Zaheer, Punjab’s commander, was replaced by Brig. Mumtaz Iqbal while Brig. Masood, Sindh’s commander, was replaced by Brig. Azam Tiwana. The replaced brigadiers were removed from their [...]

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As we had reported last week, Gen. Ashfaq Kayani, the Chief of Army Staff, is looking to replace the present Director General of Military Intelligence (DGMI), Maj. Gen. Nadeem Ejaz. Our sources now expect to see a new DGMI in place towards the end of this month. Potential candidates for the job post include (but [...]

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Today, my post “Democracy is Not the Answer,” was published in the Opinion section of The News International, Pakistan’s second largest English language newspaper.  You can find the published article here.

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The Daily Telegraph reported that the head of one of Pakistan’s intelligence agencies, appointed by President Pervez Musharraf, would be replaced by Gen. Ashfaq Kayani as part of his drive to withdraw the Pakistan Army from national politics. Our sources have confirmed that Gen. Kayani will be replacing Major General Nadeem Ejaz, the Director General [...]

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Pundits and Pakistan-watchers alike continue to swear that democracy is the long awaited panacea that will cure all of Pakistan’s ills — be it rampant jihadism, lagging social indicators, or the crisis in governance. Their memories have proven to be short, having forgotten the 1990′s, a period that was marked by corruption, extreme abuses of [...]

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A military helicopter went down in South Waziristan today. All eight on board were killed including Major General Javed Sultan, the recently promoted commanding officer of Kohat garrison as well as two brigadiers. The official explanation from Islamabad is that the crash was due to “technical reasons.” However, sources report that the helicopter was one [...]

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THE ARMY ADVANCES … Hot off its relative success in sweeping Swat of militants led by Maulana Fazlullah, sources report that the Pakistan Army has set its sights on Baitullah Mehsud, the purported mastermind behind the assassination of Benazir Bhutto. In addition to military action, sources also report that a major facet of the newfound [...]

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