March witnessed considerable decline in violence 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 unabated. The deadly wave of target killing in Karachi, started in the last week of March 2012, continue to mount death toll during March. The deadly wave left almost 104 persons dead (due to target killing) during the current month. In total 226 persons perished in Karachi during March in different circumstances. The data collected throughten newspapers that CRSS uses as the source, suggests that some 691 people lost their lives in 330 incidents of violence across the country (for details see data sheet). The violent clashes also left 615 people injured in March.

A concise look into the casualty figures underlines that the civilians remained the major target of violent actors, with the civilians accounting major loss of lives as a result of various acts of violence and terror in Pakistan. As noted in pie chart I below, civilians were 64 percent of the total dead in March. The share of the civilian deaths is nearly the same as in the last month, wherein 64 percent of the dead were innocent civilians. As a whole 366 civilians were killed in different circumstances during the month. Moreover, the data suggests that the militants fighting against the state remained the second major target i.e. 28 percent (252) of the total dead. Clashes also left 73 security forces– personnel (eight percent of total deaths) dead and these were mostly recorded in insurgency infested areas of FATA, Karachi and Balochistan. Furthermore, during March, one CIA operated drone strike was reported in different areas of North Waziristan Agency (FATA), leaving two suspected militants dead. Between March 2012 and March 2013, 52 drone attacks have killed almost 353 suspected militants. Meanwhile, continuing their sabotage campaign to demolish state infrastructure, militants blew up 19 state run and private schools and 49 other sort of infrastructure in different parts of FATA, Balochistan, Sindh and KP during the course of month.

As in case of preceding months, in March again, target killing was the major cause of deaths. Pie chart II below shows that 51 percent of all the violent incidents were of target killing in nature, accounting for 29 percent of the total death toll. Numerically 200 persons were shot dead across Pakistan, as a result of 170 incidents of target killing. Karachi witnessed the major loss of lives as a result of target killing, wherein 104 persons (52 percent of the total dead in target killings) assassinated during the month. Meanwhile, shelling, firing and mortar attacks were the second major cause of deaths. As a result of which, as many as 158 persons perished, including 31 civilians and 121 militants and six security forces personnel in different parts of the country. The third major cause of the violence was bomb blasts. In total, 109 persons including 12 security personnel perished in this form of attacks. Meanwhile, in March, 61 dead bodies were also recovered from different parts of Pakistan, most of them, were found in Karachi, Peshawar, FATA and Balochistan. Likewise, nine suicide attacks left 88 civilians dead.

A peer into the territory and intensity of violence underlines that Sindh witnessed major loss of lives during the current month (as shown in bar chart below). After Sindh, KP turned out to be the second major hub of violence, where religio-terrorism left almost 95 people dead during the current month. Meanwhile, violence across FATA and Balochistan subsided significantly during the course of the month.

Moreover, the sporadic waves of sectarian violence continued to pile up misery in Pakistan. In March 62 people (nine percent of all the dead) were killed in sectarian attacks; majority belonging to Shia minority sect, in different areas of Balochistan, Sindh, KP and Punjab as a result of 12 violent incidents. Of the total 12 attacks, 9 attacks that is, 75 percent took place in Karachi alone killing 59 95 percent of the total dead in sectarian violence. Shia sect people based in Quetta and Karachi are among the frequent targets of sectarian terrorists.

Meanwhile, data relating to the nature of violence suggests that almost 58 percent of the total loss of lives was the direct consequence of 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 25 percent of the total dead. While both nationalist-separatist violence in Balochistan, criminal activities in Punjab and sectarian violence across Pakistan accounted for almost 17 percent of the total fatalities. Accumulative data of last six months (September-March) shows that 3994 persons have perished across Pakistan as a result of the ongoing wave of violence. Among these, February 2013 was the most violent month.

A precise look into the trends and territory of violence across the country underscores that the law and order situation across Pakistan is not satisfactory. Yet a considerable decline in the death toll has been witnessed, in successive weeks, during March. Latest trends in sectarian violence across Pakistan suggest that this sort of violence has been controlled to an extent. Meanwhile Security forces have been the primary targets of the terrorists– attack.

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