The wave of violence surged significantly across Pakistan during the current week. The spate of ethno-political violence in the largest metropolis, Karachi, also escalated sharply during the week, wherein 25 persons (compared to five last week) perished and another four 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 mount misery during the week. The data collected through10 newspapers, that CRSS uses as the source, indicates that as many as 78 persons lost their lives as a result of 49 violent incidents across the country during the reported week (for detailssee data sheet).The violent incidents also left 89 people injured.

During the current week, civilians were the prime target of violent actors, as civilians accounted for56 percent of the total death toll across Pakistan. Numerically speaking, 44 civilians lost their lives and 36 others were wounded in violent clashes of various kinds across the country. The second highest number of casualties, was ofmilitants, wherein 26 militants got killed and another 19 injured in violent clashes. Unlike the previous eight weeks when there was no report of CIA operated drone strike; this week two drone strikes were recorded, killing seven militants and injuring another four in Sheen Warsak area of South Waziristan Agency (FATA). Militants also blew up a power pylon of main electricity transmission line in Khairabad area of Nowshera district (KP) and two government schools in Hangu district and Mohmand Agency areas of KP and FATA.

Meanwhile, three sectarian attacksleft eight persons, six Shia and two Sunnis, dead and another two Shia men injured in different areas of Karachi city (Sindh). Moreover, the loss of lives due to target killings surged by 25 percent, (40 percent of the total dead against last week 15 percent) during the current week. Overall, 47 percent of the total violent attacks wereoftarget killingin nature(seethe pie chart below).

Furthermore, data underlines that of the total 23 incidents of target killings; a staggering 83 percent took place in Karachi alone, decimating 23 persons (74 percent of the total dead in target killings). Death toll of the militants in the ongoing military operations in KP and FATA region dropped by eight percent; militant casualties due to military operation accounted for just two percent of the total fatalities against last week 10 percent. Meanwhile, eight security personnel were killed and 34 others got injured during the week.

Also, four dead bodies were recovered from Karachi (Sindh) and Paloseen Wazir (Lower Kurram Agency) areas. In sum, the number of violent incidents surged from last week 25 to 49 during this week, the resultant death toll, hence increased from 39 to 78 during the current week, while the number of wounded decreased from 114 to 89.

A peer into the data and violent trends during the course of current week suggests that the level of violence, after touching the lowest point during the year so far (39 during last week), has once again taken an upward turn. In recent weeks, Karachi has emerged as the new ¿center of gravity– of sectarian violence along with being the hub of ethno-politcal violence. The overlapping and diverse nature of ongoing wave of violence in the city is making the task of curbing it difficult for the law enforcement agencies. At the same time, both ethno-political and sectarian violence is feeding on the vacuum created by the respective violent actors.

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