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Pakistan Conflict Tracker Monthly Report – January 2013
The raging wave of violence soared significantly during January 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 eat up people. The deadly wave of target killing in Karachi, started in the last week of March 2102, continued to mount death toll during current year, as well. The deadly wave left almost 128 persons dead (due to target killing) during the current month. In total 156 persons perished in Karachi during January in different circumstances. The data collected throughten newspapers that CRSS uses as the source, suggests that some 749 people lost their lives in 292 incidents of violence across the country (for details see data sheet). The violent clashes also left 696 people injured in January. Concise look into the casualty figures underlines that the civilians remained the major target of violent actors, with the civilians accounting for 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 January. The share of the civilian deaths is slightly higher than the previous month, wherein 60 percent of the dead were innocent civilians. As a whole 481 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 (210) of the total dead. Clashes also left 58 security forces– personnel (8 percent of total deaths) dead and these were mostly recorded in insurgency infested areas of FATA, Karachi and Balochistan. Furthermore, during January, seven CIA operated drone strike were reported in different areas of FATA, leaving as many as 42 suspected militants dead. Meanwhile, continuing their sabotage campaign to demolish state infrastructure, militants blew up...
New Politics and Civil Society in Asia: A Pakistani Perspective
A general overview of what happening around the developing world: what is new politics in democracies craving for change or those in democratic transition? And what are the evolving challenges to traditional governance and political structures i.e. dissatisfaction with the status-quo? This was the objective of the paper read by Imtiaz Gul at the symposium, organized by the Japan Foundation and International House of Japan, on February 6, 2013. Various stake-holders at the lower rung i.e. people and groups at large through a rights-based approach i.e. are challenging the inefficient governments through advocacy and debate on public forum for rights and justice. The facilitators are media and the civil society at large. Electronic and social media in particular and is acting as a multiplier of socio-political messaging. The question arises why are these challenges emerging? a) Failure by the elites to deliver on governance/justice and economic fronts, and b) More openness and ever increasing access to information It means that state failures and shortcomings create space for non-state entities i.e. civil society, business groups, technocrats, professionals and academicians. While governments in as diverse political cultures as India and China, or Pakistan and Egypt, or Bangladesh, continue to represent the upper echelons of the society i.e. the ruling elite trying to preserve and consolidate its hold on power, while the middle and lower tiers of the society appear to be striving for breaking out of the clutches of the status quo. In retrospect, this struggle between the forces of status-quo and those striving for change looks and sounds so familiar because the ruling classes keep preserving their hold on power ´sometime in the name of public interest, sometime in the name of national security and at times, invoking arguments that hardly favour the common man. As far back as 1760s, French Enlightenment writer, historian Voltaire...
Pakistan Conflict Tracker Weekly Report – February 01-07, 2013
The raging wave of violence de-escalated slightly across Pakistan during the current week. Meanwhile, the spate of ethno-political violence in the largest metropolis, Karachi, also subsided during the week, wherein 28 persons (49 were in the last week) were perished. Also, the wave of bomb blasts across the country, spree of target killings and the recovery of mutilated dead bodies-continued to mount death toll during the week. The data collected through10 newspapers that CRSS uses as the source, indicates that as many as 183 persons lost their lives as a result of 68 violent incidents across the country during the reported week (for detailssee data sheet).The violent incidents also left 111 people injured. Like in case of preceding weeks, civilians bore the major brunt of the ongoing spate of violence across Pakistan during the current week, as civilians accounted foralmost 54 percent of the total death toll across Pakistan. Numerically, 100 civilians lost their lives and 89 others were wounded in violent clashes of various kinds across the country. The second highest number of fatalities was ofmilitants, wherein 60 militants got killed under different circumstances. Furthermore, one CIA operated drone strike was also reported during the week, killing 6 suspected militants in North Waziristan Agency (FATA). Meanwhile thesabotage campaign by the militants continued to demolish state infrastructure and undermine stability as militants blew up 8 shops in KP and torched 6 vehicles in FATA. Meanwhile, 6 sectarian attacksleft 37 dead, including 2 Shia men in Karachi and 30 in KP, this week. Moreover, the loss of lives due to target killings decreased by 5 percent, (16 percent of the total dead against last week 21 percent) during the current week. Overall, 41 percent of the total violent attacks wereoftarget killingin nature(seethe pie chart below). Furthermore, data underlines that of the total 28 incidents of target killings; 46 percent took place in Karachi alone,...
Weekly Data Sheet – February 01-07, 2013
Weekly Data Sheet – January 25-31, 2013
Pakistan Conflict Tracker Weekly Report – January 25-31, 2013
The wave of violence further escalated across Pakistan during the current week. Meanwhile, the spate of ethno-political violence in the largest metropolis, Karachi, continued unabated during the week, wherein 49 persons (45 in the last week) perished. Also, the wave of bomb blasts across the country, spree of target killings and the recovery of mutilated dead bodies-continued to mount death toll during the week. The data collected through10 newspapers that CRSS uses as the source, indicates that as many as 244 persons lost their lives as a result of 99 violent incidents across the country during the reported week (for detailssee data sheet).The violent incidents also left 110 people injured. As in case of preceding weeks, civilians bore the major brunt of the ongoing spate of violence across Pakistan during the current week, as civilians accounted foralmost 48 percent of the total death toll across Pakistan. Numerically, 117 civilians lost their lives and 57 others were wounded in violent clashes of various kinds across the country. The second highest number of fatalities was ofmilitants, wherein 115 militants got killed under different circumstances. Furthermore, no CIA operated drone strike was reported during the week. Meanwhile thesabotage campaign by the militants continued to demolish state infrastructure and undermine stability as militants attacked one building in Balochistan, two passenger coaches in Sindh, three vehicles in FATA and a shop, girls– hostel and three power pylons in different parts of KP. Meanwhile, 6 sectarian attacksleft six persons dead in Karachi while four were injured in KP this week. Moreover, the loss of lives due to target killings decreased by 36 percent, (21 percent of the total dead against last week 57 percent) during the current week. Overall, 56 percent of the total violent attacks wereoftarget killingin nature(seethe pie chart below). Furthermore, data underlines that of the total 55 incidents of target killings; 67 percent...
Weekly Data Sheet – January 18-24, 2013
Pakistan Conflict Tracker Weekly Report – January 18-24, 2013
The deadly wave of violence receded across Pakistan during the current week. Meanwhile, the spate of ethno-political violence in the largest metropolis, Karachi, surged substantially during the week, wherein 45 persons (33 in the last week) were shot dead. Also, the wave of bomb blasts across the country, spree of target killings and the recovery of mutilated dead bodies continued to mount death toll during the week. The data collected through10 newspapers that CRSS uses as the source, indicates that as many as 101 persons lost their lives as a result of 73 violent incidents around the country during the reported week (for detailssee data sheet). The violent incidents also left 45 people injured. Like in case of last week, civilians again bore the major brunt of the ongoing spate of violence across Pakistan during the current week, wherein civilians accounted foralmost 84 percent of the total death toll. Numerically, 85 civilians were killed and 19 others were wounded in violent clashes of various kinds in the country. The second highest number of fatalities was ofmilitants, wherein 10 militants got killed under different circumstances. Furthermore, no CIA operated drone strike was reported during the week in any part of the country. Meanwhile thesabotage campaign by the militants continued to demolish state infrastructure and undermine stability as militants attacked two school buses, a cellular tower, blew up three houses, five government schools and blew up seven shops in different parts of KP. Meanwhile, 12 sectarian attacksleft 13 dead, including one in KP and 12 in Karachi. Moreover, the loss of lives due to target killings increased by 16 percent, (57 percent of the total dead against last week 41 percent) during the current week. Overall, 43 percent of the total violent attacks wereoftarget killingin nature(seethe pie chart below). Furthermore, data underlines that of the total 32 incidents of target killings; 81 percent took place in Karachi alone,...
Pakistan Conflict Tracker Weekly Report – January 11-17, 2013
The overall level of violence increased substantially across Pakistan during the current week. Meanwhile, the spate of ethno-political violence in the largest metropolis, Karachi, continued unabated during the week, wherein 33 persons (compared to 29 in the last week) were killed. Also, the wave of bomb blasts across the country, spree of target killings and the recovery of mutilated dead bodies continued to mount death toll during the week. The data collected through10 newspapers that CRSS uses as the source, indicates that as many as 251 persons were dead as a result of 50 violent incidents across the country during the reported week (for detailssee data sheet).The violent incidents also left 457 people injured. As in case of preceding weeks, civilians were the major victim of the ongoing spate of violence across Pakistan during the current week. Civilians accounted foralmost 80 percent of the total death toll across Pakistan. Numerically, 203 civilians lost their lives and 323 others were wounded in violent clashes of various kinds across the country. The second highest number of fatalities was ofsecurity forces, wherein 35 security personnel got killed under different circumstances. Furthermore, one CIA operated drone strike was also reported during the week, killing six suspected militants in North Waziristan Agency (FATA). Meanwhile thesabotage campaign by the militants continued to demolish state infrastructure and undermine stability as militants attacked eight NATO containers and blew up a state department in Balochistan, a government school in FATA, blew up two check posts in KP and Balochistan. Meanwhile, sectarian attacksleft 128 persons dead as a result of three bomb blasts in Quetta and one bomb blast in KP. Most of the dead were from the Shia sect. Moreover, the loss of lives due to target killings decreased by six percent, (41 percent of the total dead against last week 47 percent) during the current week. Overall, 41 percent of the total violent...
Weekly Data Sheet – January 11-17, 2013
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I am also a member of National Assembly’s Standing Committee on Information and Broadcasting. Recently, we held a meeting with the Director General of Radio Pakistan and we told them to initiate such local programs (like Constituency Hour) in regional languages to educate and inform people. Even Indian Radio can be heard in FATA which is being used for propaganda purposes and must be closed. Therefore, we should launch some standard and quality programs like CRSS that will change the taste of the listeners.