After a relative respite of two weeks, the wave of violence picked up once again across Pakistan during the current week. Meanwhile, Karachi continued to be the killing field out of sectarian, criminal and ethno-political motives. The total death toll in the city during the last four weeks has reached 108. But unlike the past weeks, where Karachi was the epicenter of violence, during the current week the violence was evenly spread across all the familiar violent terrains i.e. Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), Karachi and Balochistan. The data collected (through ten newspapers that CRSS uses as the source) suggests that 119 persons perished in 56 incidents of violence across the country during the reported week (for details see data sheet). These violent incidents also left 128 people injured across the country. Number of injured increased from last week 61 to 128.

As a common trend witnessed in the past few weeks, the civilians continued to be the major victims of violence across the country as 51 percent of the total dead were civilians, and numerically 61 civilians were killed and 91 others were wounded. Meanwhile military vs. militants– clashes in different areas of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) and FATA resulted in 20 deaths. The salient feature of the week was the abrupt revival of CIA operated drone strikes in tribal region of Pakistan. According to reports, five drone attacks killed 31 suspected militants and injured eight in different areas of North Waziristan Agency (FATA). In total 23 drone attacks have left 132 suspected militants dead so far during the current year. The sabotage campaign launched by the militants continued to demolish state infrastructure and undermine stability; as a portion of railway track and a power transmission line were blown up in Pirkaniabad area of Sariab, Quetta (Balochistan) and Bajaur Agency (FATA), respectively. Two schools were also blown up by the suspected militants in Mohmand Agency (FATA).

Six sectarian attacks were also reported during the week, killing eight, including seven Shia Muslims and an activists of Sunni Tehrik in different areas of Karachi, Quetta and Kurram Agency (FATA). Furthermore, fatalities due to the target killings swelled during the current week, as 40 persons were shot dead in different circumstances around the country, which amounts to 33 percent of the total death toll. As the pie chart illustrates, some 48 percent of the total violent attacks were target killings in nature. The trend also underlines that target-killing remains the weapon of choice for violent actors to unleash the reign of terror (see the pie chart below).

Data underscores that of the total 27 incidents of target killings, a staggering 48 percent took place in Karachi alone, killing 18 people (45 percent of the total killed in target killings) and maiming two others. Militant casualties due to the ongoing military operation in KP and FATA region, increased by 15 percent as 20 militants were killed this week against last week 17. Total number of militant casualties in various incidents surged by 32 percent, (51 died against last week 35). Meanwhile, seven security forces– personnel also lost their lives as a result of clashes with militants during the course of the week.

Moreover, eighteen dead bodies were also recovered from different areas of Sindh and Balochistan provinces. Out of these, 10 were recovered from Karachi, while eight others were found in different areas of Balochistan. In sum, violence across the country increased slightly. The number of violent incidents increased from last week 40 to 56 this week; and the death toll surged from last week 90 to 119 this week.

A look into the trends and terrain of violence suggests that with marginal weekly differences, violence continues to grip the state. Meanwhile, looking at the level of political response to tackle the raging violence, one finds that might the government has mutedly accepted the violence as ‘new normal’ in Pakistan. Also political actors have passed over the matter of finding solutions to the security issues to security establishment. While back to back to drone strikes in the tribal region by the CIA underlines that US will not heed to repeated Pakistani requests to stop these attacks. Moreover, at a time of wrangling among state institutions in Pakistan, the US will continue to employ remotely piloted drones to take out suspected militants across Pak-Afghan border region.

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