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Weekly Data Sheet – November 23-29, 2012

Pakistan Conflict Tracker Weekly Report – November 23-29, 2012

The level of violence sharply receeded across Pakistan during the current week. Meanwhile, the spate of ethno-political violence in the largest metropolis, Karachi, also subsided substantially during the week, wherein five persons (compared to 19 last week) perished and another three got injured. Also, the wave of bomb blasts across the country, armed clashes between militants and the security forces in Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) and the recovery of mutilated dead bodies continued to pile up misery during the week. The data collected throughten newspapers that CRSS uses as the source, indicates that as many as 39 persons lost their lives as a result of 25 violent incidents across the country during the reported week (for detailssee data sheet).The violent incidents also left 124 people injured. During the week, civilians bore the major brunt of the ongoing violence across the country they accounted for79 percent of the total fatalities. Numerically speaking, 31 civilians lost their lives and 118 others were wounded in violent clashes of various kinds across the country. The second highest number of casualties was ofmilitants, wherein five militants were killed in violent clashes. Furthermore, no CIA operated drone strikewas recorded in any part of the country this week as well. Also no significant sabotage attack was reported in any part of the country this week; however four government schools were blown up by the militants in Kohat, Nowshera, Hangu and Mohmand Agency areas of KP and FATA. Meanwhile, sectarian violence continued to mount death toll across the country during the current week, as five sectarian attacksleft 17 Shia men dead, and another 104 injured in different areas of D.I. Khan (KP), Karachi (Sindh), and Quetta (Balochistan). Moreover, the loss of lives due to target killings further dropped by 14 percent, (15 percent of the total dead against last week 29 percent) during the current week. Overall, 24 percent of the total violent...

EU Workshop on Effective Programming for Countering Violent Extremism

Brussels (November 26-27, 2012): Addressing the ¿EU Workshop on Effective Programming for Countering Violent Extremism– in Brussels (Belgium), CRSS Executive Director Imtiaz Gul said that our point of reference is the electronic media ´ both radio and television ´ which has flourished with astounding pace since former President Musharraf permitted private electronic media in almost a decade ago. Today more than 15 private news TV channels and almost 80 FM radio stations dominate the electronic media landscape in Pakistan. Although most limited to urban and sub-urban centres, the private 24/7 TV channels have assumed an unprecedented role in the Pakistani socio-political context,serving as a)social messenger b)mirror of political happenings and c) a two-way transmitter of state to society and society to state messaging on governance and rule of law. Because of the disconnect between society and the state that had existed for decades the media has done a very good job by transmitting signals to the state on what is happening in the society (crime., social injustices, graft, abuse of power, bad-governance, and excesses by the police, etc). This means acute transmission of negatives, an overdose of the bad around us. And media has facilitated things look more desperate, bred and spread sense of despondency. When it keeps capturing bad/negative, it reinforces the bad, the negative in the society. This also means that like any other institution, electronic media is reflective of what is happening across the society. If our premise today is that Pak society has become intolerant ´ the narrative or attitude that condones extremist views, or is militant in responses to particular situations, thenwe should also accept if media also reflects that ´ either intentionally or otherwise. It is not its fault: This sensational/juicy side of the 24/7 live TV brings its own problems. The scramble for exclusive/ on the spot coverage ´ is a demand of the owners, who often...

Weekly Data Sheet – November 16-22, 2012

Pakistan Conflict Tracker Weekly Report – November 16-22, 2012

The overall level of violence further escalated across Pakistan during the current week. Meanwhile, the unending spate of ethno-political violence in the largest metropolis, Karachi, however substantially receeded during the week, wherein almost 19 persons (48 were dead in the last week) were perished and another 34 got injured. Also, the wave of bomb blasts across the country, armed clashes between militants and the security forces in Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) and the recovery of mutilated dead bodies continued to pile up death toll during the week. The data collected throughten newspapers that CRSS uses as the source, indicates that as many as 92 persons lost their lives as a result of 48 violent incidents across the country during the reported week (for detailssee data sheet).The violent incidents also left 182 people injured. Like the preceding week, yet again, the civilians turned out to be the major victims of the persistent wave of violence across Pakistan during the week, as civilians accounted for 71 percent of the total fatalities across Pakistan. Numerically speaking, 66 civilians lost their lives and 141 others were wounded in violent clashes of various kinds across the country. The second highest number of casualties was ofsecurity forces personnel, wherein 16 forces personnel were killed and another 29 got injured in violent clashes. Furthermore, for fourth week in a row no CIA operated drone strikewas recorded in any part of the country. Also no significant sabotage attack was reported in any part of the country this week; however three schools were blown up by the militants in Tank, Charsadda and Kotkai areas of KP and FATA. Death toll due to sectarian violence further surged during the week, as seven sectarian attacksleft 30 Shia men dead, and another 98 injured in different areas of Karachi (Sindh), Rawalpindi (Punjab) and Quetta (Balochistan). Meanwhile, the loss of lives due to target killings dropped by 35 percent, (29 percent...

Pakistan Conflict Tracker Weekly Report – November 09-15, 2012

The raging wave of violence receded significantly across Pakistan during the current week. Meanwhile, the unending spate of Ethno-political violence in the largest metropolis, Karachi, however surged substantially during the week, wherein almost 48 persons (compared to 36 last week) perished and another 41 got injured. Also, the wave of bomb blasts in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), armed clashes between militants and the security forces in Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) and the recovery of mutilated dead bodies continued to mount death toll. The data collected throughten newspapers that CRSS uses as the source, indicates that as many as 84 persons lost their lives as a result of 61 violent incidents across the country during the reported week (for detailssee data sheet).The violent incidents also left 116 people injured. As a common trend witnessed in the past several weeks, thecivilians bore the major brunt ofthe ongoing conflicts in the country this as civilians accounted for 72 percent of the total fatalities across Pakistan. Numerically speaking, 61 civilians lost their lives and 65 others were wounded in violent clashes of various kinds across the country. The second highest number of casualties were ofmilitants, wherein 15 militants were killed and another 19 got injured in violent clashes. Furthermore, for a third consecutive week, no CIA operated drone strikewas recorded in any part of the country. Also no significant sabotage attack was reported in any part of the country. Death toll due to sectarian violence surged sharply during the week, as 18 sectarian attacksleft 28 men dead, 19 Shia and nine Sunni, and another 20 injured (five Shia and 15 Sunni) in different areas of Karachi (Sindh) and Quetta (Balochistan). Meanwhile, the loss of lives due to target killings surged sharply by 23 percent, (64 percent of the total dead against last week 41 percent) during the current week. Overall, 70 percent of the total violent attacks wereoftarget killingin...

Weekly Data Sheet – November 09-15, 2012

Obama’s hard fought victory and message for Pakistan

As a result of intensely hard fought and deeply divisive election campaign in recent US history, US President Barack Obama has won four more years to lead the mightiest nation and military on earth. During his well calibrated victory speech at his campaign office soon after the confirmation of his victory, he thanked everybody âˆ©Ã‡Â¡ from young campaign organisers and political aides to rival Mitt Romney. ¿Our long campaign is now over and whether I earned your vote or not, I have listened to you, I learned from you,– Obama said to the cheering enthusiastic supporters after handing him a thumping victory. He also promised ¿reaching out and working with leaders of both parties to work together to move this country forward and fix issues–. It was Barack Obama at his best: speaking as a re-energised president of ¿a nation that is defended by the strongest military on earth and the best troops this world has ever known–. Despite the fact of some of the rhetoric on the strength of the American military and the riches of the nation notwithstanding, Obama entire speech was remarkably nation-focused. He talked about the issues that interest the common American such as employment, schooling and better governmental and fiscal governance. Conspicuous by its absence from the victory speech was the foreign policy, and more so Afghanistan and the war against terrorism ´ that so far has gobbled up close to a trillion dollars in over a decade or so. This also reinforced the commonly-held perception that, primarily, domestic politics determine the US presidential electoral process, while foreign policy takes the centre stage only after the president assumes or resumes charge. And this happens through an elaborate consultative process involving the administration as well as the security establishment i.e. the guardians of America geo-political interests. Strangely, American image abroad, particularly in the Middle Eastern Muslim countries as well as in Pakistan and Afghanistan...

Obama's hard fought victory and message for Pakistan

As a result of intensely hard fought and deeply divisive election campaign in recent US history, US President Barack Obama has won four more years to lead the mightiest nation and military on earth. During his well calibrated victory speech at his campaign office soon after the confirmation of his victory, he thanked everybody âˆ©Ã‡Â¡ from young campaign organisers and political aides to rival Mitt Romney. ¿Our long campaign is now over and whether I earned your vote or not, I have listened to you, I learned from you,– Obama said to the cheering enthusiastic supporters after handing him a thumping victory. He also promised ¿reaching out and working with leaders of both parties to work together to move this country forward and fix issues–. It was Barack Obama at his best: speaking as a re-energised president of ¿a nation that is defended by the strongest military on earth and the best troops this world has ever known–. Despite the fact of some of the rhetoric on the strength of the American military and the riches of the nation notwithstanding, Obama entire speech was remarkably nation-focused. He talked about the issues that interest the common American such as employment, schooling and better governmental and fiscal governance. Conspicuous by its absence from the victory speech was the foreign policy, and more so Afghanistan and the war against terrorism ´ that so far has gobbled up close to a trillion dollars in over a decade or so. This also reinforced the commonly-held perception that, primarily, domestic politics determine the US presidential electoral process, while foreign policy takes the centre stage only after the president assumes or resumes charge. And this happens through an elaborate consultative process involving the administration as well as the security establishment i.e. the guardians of America geo-political interests. Strangely, American image abroad, particularly in the Middle Eastern Muslim countries as well as in Pakistan and Afghanistan...