The upsurge in violence recorded during last quarter (January – March, 2016) dropped significantly during this reporting period (April – June, 2016). That being said, the militants, the noose ever-tightening around them, appear to have made a strategic shift in terms of areas of operation and targets. Chief of Army Staff General Raheel Sharif declared that the ongoing Operation Zarb-e-Azb was over, as the most dreaded areas in North Waziristan had been cleared. The military operation carried out in the riverine areas of the South Punjab also ended during this quarter with successful clearance of the area from the notorious gangster Chotu Mazari and his associates.
Other than these successes in the war on terror, a few high profile incidents of violence shocked the country. One of them was the brazen assassination of the popular Qawal, Amjad Sabri, during the holy month of Ramazan at one of the busiest locales in Karachi. This also caused concern about the presence of fully operations criminal elements in urban centers.
To assess and evaluate what new challenges and threats are being faced by the country, this report makes use of the national print and electronic media sources. CRSS endeavors to ensure that the data is as accurate as possible within the available resources. However, it does not rule out errors and omissions, which are always a possibility in such statistical works. Such mistakes, nevertheless, do not grossly affect the overall outcome and conclusions of this report.
Readers can approach CRSS for information related to this report. Alternately, you may send your queries to mail@crss.pk, directly to Mohammad Nafees, Senior Research Fellow, CRSS – the author of the report (mohammad.nafees@yahoo.com), or Zeeshan Salahuddin, Senior Research Fellow (zeeshan@crss.pk) – the editor.