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Pakistan Conflict Tracker Weekly Report – September 07-13, 2012

The wave of violence further subsided substantially across Pakistan during the current week. Meanwhile, armed clashes between militants and the security forces in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) and Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) and the deadly wave of target killings in Karachi (Sindh), continued to pile up death toll during the week. The data collected throughten newspapers that CRSS uses as the source, shows that as many as 90 persons perished, as a result of 42 incidents of violence across the country during the reported week (for detailssee data sheet).These violent incidents also left 88 people injured across the country. Unlike the previous few weeks, where militants were the prime target of violence; civilians bore the major brunt of the ongoing spate of violence across Pakistan during the current week, wherein 66 percent of the total casualties were of the civilians. Numerically, 60 civilians were died and 86 others were wounded as a result of violent clashes. The second highest number of deaths was ofmilitants, wherein 23 militants got killed under different circumstances. No CIA operated drone strikewas reported during the course of the week. Meanwhile militants blew up four power pylons, of 132 KV each in Kala Dher area of Charsadda district (KP), and five government schools in different areas of KP and FATA region. Moreover, no sectarian attack was reported in any part of the country. Meanwhile, the unabated spree of target killings fell by 7 percent, (31 percent against last week 38 percent) during the current week. Overall, 60 percent of the total violent attacks wereoftarget killingin nature.The trend also underscores that the target killing, persistently remains the weapon of choice for violent attackers to exhibit violence (seethe pie chart below). Furthermore, data shows that of the total 25 incidents of target killings, a staggering 88 percent took place in Karachi alone, leaving 26 people dead (92 percent of the total dead in target...

Weekly Data Sheet – September 07-13, 2012

S M Krishna’s Visit to Pakistan

'It is my earnest desire and the desire of Dr Manmohan Singh, the Prime Minister of India and the people of India that we would like to see a stable, peaceful, progressive Pakistan as our neighbor because that will be beneficial to the entire region.' These promising remarks that the Indian Minister for External Affairs S M Krishna shared with media at the Lahore airport, while wrapping up his three day long visit to Pakistan on 9th September[1] perhaps mark a new beginning in the chequered history of relations between two south Asian nuclear-armed neighbours. During his visit to Pakistan, he met with Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari, Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf, Foreign Minister Ms Hina Rabbani Khar and other delegations of different political parties. The two sides also agreed not only to ease the travel restrictions but to facilitate ease of movement for tourists, pilgrims, the elderly and children and those all-important businessmen without whom all the agreements and accords of bilateral trade and business would fell flat. According to this landmark agreement both countries will launch a ferry service between Karachi and Mumbai, and allow daily direct flights between Islamabad and Delhi.'[2]There are direct flights between Lahore, Karachi and New Delhi, Mumbai, but no direct flight between the capital cities. Thus according to the new agreement, both the states would soon start direct flights between two capital cities, which take 46 minutes to reach from one capital to other one. Although business community in both countries is not much interested in visiting capital cities, yet the move can be helpful for officials, civil society members and most of all for the residents of both the cities. Ms Khar sounded upbeat on the state and course of the bilateral dialogue. 'We will move forward-, we will not be held hostage to history,' she told a joint news conference with Krishna after signing the agreement. She underscored that both the states...

S M Krishna's Visit to Pakistan

'It is my earnest desire and the desire of Dr Manmohan Singh, the Prime Minister of India and the people of India that we would like to see a stable, peaceful, progressive Pakistan as our neighbor because that will be beneficial to the entire region.' These promising remarks that the Indian Minister for External Affairs S M Krishna shared with media at the Lahore airport, while wrapping up his three day long visit to Pakistan on 9th September[1] perhaps mark a new beginning in the chequered history of relations between two south Asian nuclear-armed neighbours. During his visit to Pakistan, he met with Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari, Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf, Foreign Minister Ms Hina Rabbani Khar and other delegations of different political parties. The two sides also agreed not only to ease the travel restrictions but to facilitate ease of movement for tourists, pilgrims, the elderly and children and those all-important businessmen without whom all the agreements and accords of bilateral trade and business would fell flat. According to this landmark agreement both countries will launch a ferry service between Karachi and Mumbai, and allow daily direct flights between Islamabad and Delhi.'[2]There are direct flights between Lahore, Karachi and New Delhi, Mumbai, but no direct flight between the capital cities. Thus according to the new agreement, both the states would soon start direct flights between two capital cities, which take 46 minutes to reach from one capital to other one. Although business community in both countries is not much interested in visiting capital cities, yet the move can be helpful for officials, civil society members and most of all for the residents of both the cities. Ms Khar sounded upbeat on the state and course of the bilateral dialogue. 'We will move forward-, we will not be held hostage to history,' she told a joint news conference with Krishna after signing the agreement. She underscored that both the states...

S M Krishna's Visit to Pakistan

'It is my earnest desire and the desire of Dr Manmohan Singh, the Prime Minister of India and the people of India that we would like to see a stable, peaceful, progressive Pakistan as our neighbor because that will be beneficial to the entire region.' These promising remarks that the Indian Minister for External Affairs S M Krishna shared with media at the Lahore airport, while wrapping up his three day long visit to Pakistan on 9th September[1] perhaps mark a new beginning in the chequered history of relations between two south Asian nuclear-armed neighbours. During his visit to Pakistan, he met with Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari, Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf, Foreign Minister Ms Hina Rabbani Khar and other delegations of different political parties. The two sides also agreed not only to ease the travel restrictions but to facilitate ease of movement for tourists, pilgrims, the elderly and children and those all-important businessmen without whom all the agreements and accords of bilateral trade and business would fell flat. According to this landmark agreement both countries will launch a ferry service between Karachi and Mumbai, and allow daily direct flights between Islamabad and Delhi.'[2]There are direct flights between Lahore, Karachi and New Delhi, Mumbai, but no direct flight between the capital cities. Thus according to the new agreement, both the states would soon start direct flights between two capital cities, which take 46 minutes to reach from one capital to other one. Although business community in both countries is not much interested in visiting capital cities, yet the move can be helpful for officials, civil society members and most of all for the residents of both the cities. Ms Khar sounded upbeat on the state and course of the bilateral dialogue. 'We will move forward-, we will not be held hostage to history,' she told a joint news conference with Krishna after signing the agreement. She underscored that both the states...

Pakistan Conflict Tracker Monthly Report (August 2012)

The wave of deadly violence picked up considerably during the month of August 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 continued to undermine the security landscape in Pakistan. The militancy stricken FATA and KP remained the ground-zero of violence during the current month, wherein a whopping 420 persons lost their lives in different circumstances. The data collected throughten newspapers (that CRSS uses as the source) suggests that some 637 people lost their lives in 240 incidents of violence across the country (for details see data sheet). The violent clashes also left 441 people injured. Keen analysis of the casualty figures underscores that the militants fighting against the state bore the maximum brunt of violence as 46 percent (295) of the total death toll was of militants. Clashes also left 67 security forces– personnel (11 percent of total deaths) dead, where these deaths were mostly recorded in insurgency infested areas of FATA and Balochistan. Moreover, the data suggests that the civilians remained the second major target of violent actors, with the civilians accounting for 2/5 of the total deaths in various acts of violence and terror across Pakistan. As noted in pie chart I below, civilian deaths comprised of 43 percent of the total death toll. The figure of the civilian deaths is slightly lower than the previous month, where 58 percent of the total dead were innocent civilians. As a whole, 275 civilians were killed in different circumstances during the month. Furthermore, from July 27 to August 30, eight CIA operated drone strikes were reported in different areas of North Waziristan Agency (FATA), leaving as many as 54 suspected militants dead. Figures suggest that August saw the highest number of drone strikes since October 2011. On the contrary, during last month, three drone attacks were...

Launching of Report “Blasphemy Laws in Pakistan: Historical Overview”

Islamabad (September 07, 2012): The government should take serious measures to curb and discourage the abuse of blasphemy laws and also enact safeguards to protectthe accused from mob justice. This was stated by the participants during the launching ceremony of 'Blasphemy Laws in Pakistan: Historical Overview' a report producedby the Center for Research and Security Studies (CRSS), on Friday, September 07, 2012 in its office premises. Renowned religious scholar and Chairman Ullema Council ofPakistan, Allama Tahir Mahmood Asharafi, Associate Professor Shairah and Law, Dr Shehzad Chaudhry of International Islamic University, Islamabad, journalists,academicians and civil society members, were part of the launching ceremony. Alllama Tahir Asharafi said that Rimsha Masih case is a test case for the state and society in Pakistan to divorce its past of religious persecution related practices. He emphasized that there is need to shun the practice of taking law into hands and prosecute the accused in blasphemy through mob justice. He observed that unfortunately blasphemy law is being abused by some powerful elements, both with religious and political backgrounds, to achieve their own vested interests. The latest case of blasphemy, he underlined, is aimed at vacating the Mehrabad area from Christian community to make a religious seminary over there. 'The government should come forward to safeguard the innocent people against powerful lobbies and groups in the country', he stressed. He said that there is need to initiate a healthy debate in the society to raise awareness among the people about blasphemy laws and to expose the people who are abusing it. Mr. Peter Jacob, Executive Secretary at National Commission for Justice of Pakistan said that there is acute need to revisit and review the blasphemy laws in thecountry. He asked the government to take courageous steps to make the law more elaborative and erect mechanisms to stop its abuse. Dr Shehzad Chaudhry said that...

Launching of Report "Blasphemy Laws in Pakistan: Historical Overview"

Islamabad (September 07, 2012): The government should take serious measures to curb and discourage the abuse of blasphemy laws and also enact safeguards to protectthe accused from mob justice. This was stated by the participants during the launching ceremony of 'Blasphemy Laws in Pakistan: Historical Overview' a report producedby the Center for Research and Security Studies (CRSS), on Friday, September 07, 2012 in its office premises. Renowned religious scholar and Chairman Ullema Council ofPakistan, Allama Tahir Mahmood Asharafi, Associate Professor Shairah and Law, Dr Shehzad Chaudhry of International Islamic University, Islamabad, journalists,academicians and civil society members, were part of the launching ceremony. Alllama Tahir Asharafi said that Rimsha Masih case is a test case for the state and society in Pakistan to divorce its past of religious persecution related practices. He emphasized that there is need to shun the practice of taking law into hands and prosecute the accused in blasphemy through mob justice. He observed that unfortunately blasphemy law is being abused by some powerful elements, both with religious and political backgrounds, to achieve their own vested interests. The latest case of blasphemy, he underlined, is aimed at vacating the Mehrabad area from Christian community to make a religious seminary over there. 'The government should come forward to safeguard the innocent people against powerful lobbies and groups in the country', he stressed. He said that there is need to initiate a healthy debate in the society to raise awareness among the people about blasphemy laws and to expose the people who are abusing it. Mr. Peter Jacob, Executive Secretary at National Commission for Justice of Pakistan said that there is acute need to revisit and review the blasphemy laws in thecountry. He asked the government to take courageous steps to make the law more elaborative and erect mechanisms to stop its abuse. Dr Shehzad Chaudhry said that...

Pakistan Conflict Tracker Weekly Report (August 31 – September 06, 2012)

The overall level of violence reduced significantly across Pakistan during the current week. Armed clashes between militants and the security forces in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) and Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) and the deadly wave of target killings across Pakistan continued to mount their toll on Pakistan during the week. The data collected throughten newspapers that CRSS uses as the source shows that as many as 134 persons perished, as a result of 58 incidents of violence across the country during the reported week (for detailssee data sheet). These violent incidents also left 85 people injured across the country. Meanwhile, the number of wounded persons declined sharply from 115 during last week to 85 during the current week. Unlike the previous few weeks, where militants were the prime target of violence, civilians paid the maximum human cost of the ongoing spate of violence, wherein 50 percent of the total casualties were of the civilians. Numerically, 67 civilians were dead and 53 others wounded as a result of violent clashes across Pakistan. The second highest number of deaths was ofmilitants, wherein 58 militants got killed and 16 others wounded under different circumstances. Furthermore, only one CIA operated drone strikewas recorded during the course of the week, killing five suspected militants in Degan village of North Waziristan Agency (FATA). No significant sabotage attack was reported in any part of the country however militants blew up a government primary school in Gongat Johar village of Safi tehsil, Mohmand Agency (FATA). Moreover, the persistent wave of sectarian killings further swelled during the current week, as five sectarian attacks left 13 Shias, one Sunni dead and another injured in Quetta (Balochistan) and Karachi (Sindh). Moreover, deaths as a result of the unabated spree of target killings surged by 16 percent, (38 percent against last week 22 percent) during the current week. Overall, 66 percent of the total violent...