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 eight state run and private schools and 38 other sort of infrastructure in different parts of FATA, Balochistan and KP during the course of month.

In January, target killing was the major cause of deaths. Pie chart II below shows that 49 percent of all the violent incidents were of target killing in nature, accounting for 28 percent of the total death toll. Numerically 209 persons were shot dead across Pakistan, as a result of 143 incidents of target killing. Karachi witnessed the major loss of lives as a result of target killing, wherein 128 persons (61 percent of the total dead in target killings, while 17 percent of the total death toll) were assassinated during the month. Meanwhile, bomb blasts carried out by the militants were the second major cause of deaths. As a result of which, as many as 177 persons perished, including 140 civilians and seven militants and thirty security forces personnel in different parts of the country. The second major cause of the violence was military operations. In total, 115 persons including 110 militants and five civilians perished in this form of attacks. Meanwhile, in January, 72 dead bodies were also recovered from different parts of Pakistan, most of them, were found in Karachi, Peshawar, FATA and Balochistan. Likewise, one suicide attack left 1 persons dead in KP.

A peer into the territory and intensity of violence underlines that Sindh witnessed major loss of lives during the current month, wherein almost 189 persons were butchered during January (as shown in bar chart below). After Sindh, Balochistan turned out to be the second major hub of violence, where national- separatist and sectarian violence left almost 179 people dead during the current month. Meanwhile, violence across FATA and KP subsided marginally during the current month.

Moreover, the sporadic waves of sectarian violence continue to pile up misery in Pakistan. In January, 152 people (20 percent of all the dead) were killed and 4 others got injured in sectarian attacks; majority belonging to Shia minority sect, in different areas of Balochistan, Sindh, KP and Punjab as a result of 28 violent incidents. Of the total 28 attacks, 19 attacks that is, 67 percent took place in Karachi alone killing 17 percent (23) of the total dead in sectarian violence. Latest trends in sectarian violence across Pakistan underscore the fact that this sort of violence is on the rise, once again. Shia sect people based in Quetta and Karachi are among the frequent targets of sectarian terrorists.

Meanwhile, data relating to the nature of violence suggests that almost 53 percent of the total loss of life was the direct consequence of religio-terrorism. The epicenter of faith-based violence continues to be FATA and KP, while Balochistan and Karachi also becoming new hotbed of religious terrorism in recent months. Ethno-political violence involving political parties, meanwhile, led to the decimation of 19 percent of the total dead. While both nationalist-separatist violence in Balochistan, criminal activities in Punjab and sectarian violence across Pakistan accounted for almost 28 percent of the total fatalities. Accumulative data of last four months (October-January) shows that 2572 persons have perished across Pakistan as a result of the ongoing wave of violence. A peer into the trends and territory of violence across the country underlines that the law and order situation across Pakistan continues to plunge. Meanwhile in January, sectarian violence across Pakistan was on the rise.

Sources

1. The News
2. Dawn
3. The Express Tribune
4. Pakistan Today
5. Daily Times
6. The Frontier Post
7. Jang (Urdu)
8. Daily Mashriq (Urdu)
9. Aaj (Urdu)
10. The Nation