The violence across Pakistan slightly escalated during the current week. The relentless wave of target killings in the largest metropolis of Pakistan, Karachi (Sindh), clashes between militants and security forces in Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), and bomb blasts across Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) continued to inflict death and destruction upon the people. The data collected (throughten newspapers that CRSS uses as the source) suggests that as many as 144 persons fell prey to the 74 incidents of violence across the country during the reported week (for detailssee data sheet).These violent incidents also left 74 people injured whereas the number of wounded increased considerably from last week 60 to 74 this week.

Contrary to the common trend witnessed over the past six weeks, wherein civilians were the prime target; the militants endured the maximum loss in the country during the week. Seventy three militants were killed and another fourteen got injured under different circumstances. The second highest number of casualties were ofcivilians, wherein 54 civilians were killed and another 51 were injured in different parts of the country. Civilian casualties dropped by 55 percent, as civilian casualties constituted just 37 percent of the total death toll this week. Furthermore, unlike the previous week, one CIA operated drone strikewas reported this week killing 14 suspected militants in Dre-Nishtar village of Shawal valley, North Waziristan Agency (FATA). The sabotage campaign by the militants continued to tear apart state infrastructure, as militants blew up a portion of railway track in Balochistan and four government schools in KP and FATA regions.

One sectarian attack was reported during the week, wherein a Hazara Shia official was shot and injured in Quetta city, Balochistan. Meanwhile, the casualties due to the ferocious waves of target killings plunged sharply by 48 percent during the current week. Overall, 44 percent of the total violent attacks wereof target killing in nature. The trend also underlines that the target killing adamantly remains the weapon of choice in the hands of miscreants to inflict violence against the helpless civilians (seethe pie chart below).

Furthermore, data shows that of the total 24 incidents of target killings; a staggering 54 percent took place in Karachi alone, killing 14 people and injuring four others. Militant causalities due to the ongoing military operation in KP and FATA region raised sharply by 62 percent as 73 militants got killed this week against last week only 28. On the whole militant casualties were 51 percent of the total death toll. Meanwhile, 17 security personnel lost their lives and nine others got injured as a result of clashes with the militants.

Moreover, during the current week 15dead bodieswere recovered from different parts of the country, nine of them were recovered from Karachi alone. In sum, the number of violent incidents dropped slightly from last week 60 to 55, the consequent fatalities, however surged marginally from 138 to 144 during current week, while the number of wounded increased from 60 to 74 this week.

A concise look into the data and violent trends in the recent weeks suggests that security situation continues to deteriorate in Pakistan. Though security forces, within their resources and capabilities, continue to fix the problem, but the scale and viciousness of challenge underlines that their measures are miserably falling short. On the other hand, it looks as if the civilian government has accepted the current level of violence as a normality and does not bother to intervene for the resolution of conflicts, which are primarily political in nature. In past, violence in Karachi succeeded in attaining the government’s attention, but now the government looks satisfied with the current state of affairs, wherein on average 10 people are shot dead in a day across the city.

Sources

1. The News
2. Dawn
3. The Express Tribune
4. Pakistan Today
5. Daily Times
6. The Frontier Post
7. Jang (Urdu)
8. Daily Mashriq (Urdu)
9. Aaj (Urdu)
10. The Nation