The raging wave of violence substantially reduced during September across Pakistan. Ethno-political violence in Karachi, religio-terrorism in Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), and nationalist-separatist violence in Balochistan, meanwhile continued to mount the death toll. The deadly wave of target killing in Karachi, which ensued in the last week of March, left almost 131 persons dead during the current month. In total, 162 persons perished in Karachi during September. Also, the militancy stricken areas of FATA and KP continued to seethe under violence, wherein a whopping 300 persons lost their lives during the month under review in different circumstances. The data collected throughten newspapers that CRSS uses as the source, depicts that some 506 people lost their lives in 205 incidents of violence across the country (for details see data sheet). The violent clashes also left 526 people injured across the country in September.

A concise peep into the casualty figures underscores that the civilians remained the major target of violent actors, with the civilians accounting for 3/5 of the total deaths as a result of various acts of violence and terror in Pakistan. As noted in pie chart I below, civilians were almost 59 percent of the total dead in September. The share of civilian deaths is slightly higher than the previous month, wherein 43 percent of the dead were innocent civilians. As a whole 298 civilians were killed during the month. Moreover, the data suggests that the militants fighting against the state remained the second major target i.e. 34 percent (170) of the total dead. Clashes also left 38 security forces– personnel (7 percent of total deaths) dead and these were mostly recorded in insurgency infested areas of FATA, ethno-political violence hub, Karachi, and nationalist-separatist epicenter, Balochistan. Furthermore during September (from August 31 to 27 September), three CIA operated drone strikes were reported in different areas of North Waziristan Agency (FATA), leaving as many as 13 suspected militants dead. While during last month, eight drone attacks were reported, leaving 58 suspected militants dead. Between March and September of this year, 32 drone attacks have killed almost 234 suspected militants. Meanwhile, continuing their sabotage campaign to demolish state infrastructure, militants blew up 12 state run schools in different parts of FATA and KP during the course of month. Also, three sabotage attacks were reported in parts of KP and Balochistan provinces, wherein miscreants blew up, two power pylons anda portion of gas pipeline.

In September, target killing was the major cause of deaths. Pie chart II below shows that 62 percent of all the violent incidents were of target killing in nature, accounting for 33 percent of the total death toll. Numerically, 167 persons were shot dead across Pakistan, as a result of 127 incidents of target killing. Karachi witnessed the major loss of lives as a result of target killing, wherein 131 persons (78 percent of the total dead in target killings, while 26 percent of the total death toll) were assassinated. Meanwhile, deadly clashes between military and militants were the second major cause of deaths. As a result of which, as many as 106 persons perished, including 105 militants and a civilian in different parts of KP and FATA. Meanwhile, in September, 82 dead bodies were also recovered from different parts of Pakistan and most of them were found in Karachi, Peshawar, FATA and Balochistan. The third major cause of the violence was bomb blasts. In total, 82 persons including 65 civilians, eight security forces– personnel and nine militants perished in this form of attacks. Likewise, three suicide attacks left five people dead and twenty three others injured in different areas of Pakistan.

A peer into the territory and intensity of violence underlines that FATA witnessed major loss of lives in recent months, wherein more than 235 persons were killed during September (as shown in bar chart below). After FATA, surprisingly enough, Karachi turned out to be the second major hub of violence, wherein ethno-political violence left almost 148 people dead during the current month. Meanwhile, violence across KP and Balochistan subsided significantly during the course of the month.

Moreover, the sporadic waves of sectarian violence continued to pile up misery upon religious sects in Pakistan, especially Shia Muslims. In September, 44 people (nine percent of all the dead) were killed out of sectarian motives; majority belonging to Shia minority sect, in Parachinar (FATA), Quetta (Balochistan) and Karachi (Sindh), as a result of 12 violent incidents. Latest trends in sectarian violence across Pakistan underscore the fact that this sort of violence is on the rise once again. Shias based in Quetta, Parachinar and Karachi, are among the frequent targets of sectarian militants.

Meanwhile, scaling data according to the kind of motive behind killings, we find that almost 56 percent of the total loss of life was the direct consequence on religio-terrorism. The epicenter of faith based violence continues to be FATA and KP. Ethno-political violence involving political parties, meanwhile, led to the decimation of 28 percent of the total deaths. While both nationalist-separatist violence in Balochistan and sectarian violence across Pakistan amounted for almost 16 percent of the total fatalities. Accumulative data of last three months (July-September) shows that 1661 persons have perished across Pakistan as a result of the ongoing wave of violence. Among these, August was the most violent month, wherein large numbers of deaths occurred due to the clashes between military and militants and spree of target killings in FATA, KP and Karachi.

The emerging trends of violence across the country underscore that law and order situation is persistently deteriorating, wherein security forces look incapable and ill-equipped to check this plunge. Meanwhile, at a time when state and society continue to toll due to mounting violence; the political leadership looks apathetic as ever to find the solution to the conflicts which are political in nature. There are ample chances that with the prevalent state of security, violence in the coming days will get even worse due to the political expediencies and the alliances of some religio-political groups with the political parties.

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