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Weekly Data Sheet – December 21-27, 2012
Pakistan Conflict Tracker Weekly Report – December 21-27, 2012
The wave of violence further escalated across Pakistan during the current week. Meanwhile, the spate of ethno-political violence in the largest metropolis, Karachi, also continued unabated during the week, wherein 32 persons perished. Also, the wave of bomb blasts across the country, spree of target killings and the recovery of mutilated dead bodies continued to pile up death toll during the week. The data collected through10 newspapers that CRSS uses as the source, indicates that as many as 92 persons lost their lives as a result of 41 violent incidents across the country during the reported week (for detailssee data sheet).The violent incidents also left 27 people injured. Civilians bore the major brunt of the ongoing spate of violence across Pakistan during the current week, as civilians accounted for50 percent of the total death toll across Pakistan. Numerically, 46 civilians lost their lives and 10 others were wounded in violent clashes of various kinds across the country. The second highest number of fatalities was ofmilitants, wherein 32 militants got killed under different circumstances. Furthermore, one CIA operated drone strike was also reported during the week, killing four suspected militants in Hasukhel village of North Waziristan Agency (FATA). Meanwhile thesabotage campaign by the militants continued to demolish state infrastructure and undermine stability as militants blew up a portion of railway trackand four government schools in Balochistan and KP provinces respectively. Meanwhile, five sectarian attacksleft 15 people, including seven Shia and eight Sunni, dead in Karachi city (Sindh) this week. Moreover, the loss of lives due to target killings surged by nine percent, (48 percent of the total dead against last week 39 percent) during the current week. Overall, 63 percent of the total violent attacks wereoftarget killingin nature(seethe pie chart below). Furthermore, data underlines that of the total 26 incidents of target killings; a staggering...
Terror vs. Terror: Drones fighting a war of ambiguity
With the war on terror stretching on to the next decade, the spate of drone strikes in FATA seems to see no end. The strikes continue with the implicit support of the Pakistani government and army, who find themselves in a double bind: they acquiesce as allies in the war on terror, and yet protest against the challenge to sovereignty over violence inside state boundaries. When drones strike, the state fails as a guarantor of its citizens– rights. But in this war of ambiguity, do these citizens count? They are ambiguous targets, shifting between civilian and terrorist, and in the fuzzy legal space of de-territorialised warfare, they unfortunately have ambiguous rights. The Obama administration favours drones for their surgical nature and impersonal combat: they are argued to be instruments of precision that take out significant targets without exposing soldiers to any danger. For a country that presents itself as a beacon of democracy and transparency, there is a paradoxical silence surrounding the analytical mistakes and operational errors that cause innocent deaths. The Obama administration has claimed that civilian casualties are only in single digits.[i] In fact, the death toll resulting from strikes so far is grossly understated especially that of civilians killed in cross-fire. According the Bureau of Investigative Journalism (TBIJ), between 2004-sept 2012, drone strikes caused 2562-3325 casualties, of which at least 474-881 people were civilians. Of these, 176 were children. Approximately 1228-1362 people were also left injured.[ii] Even for these numbers, there is a doubt of accuracy, and the real numbers of innocent deaths are thought to be much higher. The numbers of people suffering psychological trauma as survivors, or close of kin to the deceased is also extremely high.[iii] As with every intangible injury, these are mostly undocumented and unreported in mainstream statistics that are only interested in counting deaths and injuries. Not surprisingly,...
Audit 2012: Perspectives on Economy, Energy, Rule of Law and Democratization
Islamabad (December 28, 2012): Bad governance, mismanagement, deficit legal framework and lack of financial discipline are plunging the state deeper into the abyss. Present government has failed to check the decline in almost every sphere of governance. This was consensus among different experts, academicians and participants at a seminar ¿Audit 2012: Perspectives on Economy, Energy, Rule of Law and Democratization– organized by the Center for Research and Security Studies, Islamabad at Marriott Hotel on December 28, 2012. People from media, legal background academics, civil society, and students participated in the event, which was arranged to look back the progress and setbacks in 2012. Addressing the seminar, Dr Ishfaq Hassan Khan, Principal and Dean of NUST School of Business said that Pakistani economy has never been in such a bad shape as it is today. He falsified present government stance that it inherited a shattered economy through facts and figures compiled by the government itself, and world financial institutions. 'Total GDP increased from $60 billion in 2000-01 to $170 billion in 2007. The real GDP growth was seven percent with low inflation during the same period. The government policies contributed in reduction of poverty and improvement of social indicators' he underlined. The macroeconomic progress, according to Dr Khan, resulted from the implementation of a series of structural reforms during last government era. He observed that with these figures, when a government starts with deception that it inherited ruined economy then we end up 2012 like economic situation. He said that present government replaced four finance ministers, six finance secretaries, four governors of State Bank of Pakistan, and six chairman of Federal Bureau of Revenue in its tenure so far. 'So when there is no stability in economic management team then how can we have stable economy', he questioned. Dr Khan narrated that though there were challenges during the tenure of...
Weekly Data Sheet – December 14-20, 2012
Pakistan Conflict Tracker Weekly Report – December 14-20, 2012
The wave of violence surged significantly across Pakistan during the current week. Meanwhile, the spate of ethno-political violence in the largest metropolis, Karachi, also continued unabated during the week, wherein 27 persons perished and another three got injured. Also, the wave of bomb blasts across the country, spree of target killings and the recovery of mutilated dead bodies continued to mount the death toll. The data collected through10 newspapers, that CRSS uses as the source, indicates that as many as 84 persons lost their lives as a result of 44 violent incidents across the country during the reported week (for detailssee data sheet).The violent incidents also left 159 people injured. Like the preceding week, yet again, the civilians turned out to be the major victim of the persistent wave of violence across Pakistan during the current week, as civilians accounted for73 percent of the total death toll across Pakistan. Numerically speaking, 61 civilians lost their lives and 143 others were wounded in violent clashes of various kinds across the country. The second highest number of fatalities was ofmilitants, wherein 14 militants got killed under different circumstances. Furthermore, unlike the preceding week, no CIA operated drone strikes was recorded in any part of the country this week. In continuation of their campaign to demolish state infrastructure, militants blew up a telephone exchange and a mobile tower in Lachi town area of Kohat district (KP) and a government school in Behram Killay area of Nowshera district (KP). Meanwhile, one sectarian attackleft a person, belonging to Sunni sect, dead in Karachi city (Sindh) this week. Moreover, the loss of lives due to target killings dropped by 14 percent, (39 percent of the total dead against last week 53 percent) during the current week. Overall, 66 percent of the total violent attacks wereoftarget killingin nature(seethe pie chart below). Furthermore, data underlines that of the total 29 incidents of...
Weekly Data Sheet – December 07-13, 2012
Pakistan Conflict Tracker Weekly Report – December 07-13, 2012
The wave of violence subsided considerably across Pakistan during the current week. The spate of ethno-political violence in the largest metropolis, Karachi, also continued unabated during the week, wherein 26 persons (twenty five were in the last week) were perished and another nine got injured. Also, the wave of bomb blasts across the country, spree of target killings and the recovery of mutilated dead bodies continued to pile up the death toll. The data collected through10 newspapers, that CRSS uses as the source, indicates that as many as 57 persons lost their lives as a result of 44 violent incidents across the country during the reported week (for detailssee data sheet).The violent incidents also left 42 people injured. During the week under review, civilians again endured the maximum loss as they accounted for63 percent of the total death toll across Pakistan. Numerically speaking, 36 civilians lost their lives and 41 others were wounded in violent clashes of various kinds across the country. The second highest number of fatalities was ofmilitants, wherein 11 militants got killed in violent clashes. Furthermore, like the preceding week, two CIA operated drone strikes were recorded this week, killing eight militants in Mubarikshi and Tappi villages of North Waziristan Agency (FATA). Militants also blew up a veterinary hospital, a mobile telephone tower and three government schools in Mohmand and Khyber Agencies (FATA). Meanwhile, four sectarian attacksleft seven persons, all belonging to Shia minority community, dead in different areas of Karachi (Sindh), Quetta and Zhob (Balochistan). Moreover, the loss of lives due to target killings further surged by 13 percent, (53 percent of the total dead against last week 40 percent) during the current week. Overall, 61 percent of the total violent attacks wereoftarget killingin nature(seethe pie chart below). Furthermore, the data underlines that of the total 27 incidents of target killings; a staggering 70 percent...
Pakistan Conflict Tracker Monthly Report – November 2012
The overall level of violence decreased significantly during November 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, continue to mount death toll in the largest metropolis and economic hub of Pakistan. The deadly wave left almost 90 persons dead (due to target killing) during the current month. In total 115 persons perished in Karachi during November in different circumstances. Also, the militancy-ridden areas of FATA and KP continued to seethe under violence, wherein a whopping - 132 persons lost their lives during the month under review as a result of different violent clashes. The data collected throughten newspapers that CRSS uses as the source, suggests that some 342 people lost their lives in 192 incidents of violence across the country (for details see data sheet). The violent clashes also left 533 people injured in November. A concise look into the casualty figures underlines that the civilians remained the major target of violent actors, with the civilians accounting for four fifth of the total deaths as a result of various acts of violence and terror in the country. As noted in pie chart I below, civilians were almost 74 percent of the total dead in November. The share of the civilian deaths is slightly higher than the previous month, wherein 61 percent of the dead were innocent civilians. As a whole, 254 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. 16 percent (54) of the total dead. Clashes also left 34 security forces– personnel (ten percent of total deaths) dead and these were mostly recorded in insurgency infested areas of FATA, Karachi and Balochistan....
Weekly Data Sheet – November 30 – December 06, 2012
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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.