The violence across Pakistan and the consequent fatalities subsided considerably during the current week. Ethno-political violence in the largest metropolis, Karachi, also dropped substantially during the week, wherein almost 25 persons (40 were dead in the last week) were shot dead. Meanwhile, the wave of bomb blasts in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) and FATA, armed clashes between militants and the security forces in Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) and the recovery of mutilated dead bodies-continued to pile misery on the people. The data collected throughten newspapers that CRSS uses as the source, indicates that as many as 70 persons lost their lives as a result of 32 violent incidents across the country during the reported week (for detailssee data sheet).The violent incidents also left 54 people injured.

Yet again civilians paid the major cost of the ongoing spate of violence across the country as civilians accounted for 63 percent of the total fatalities this week. Numerically speaking 44 civilians lost their lives and 46 others were wounded in violent clashes of various kinds across Pakistan. The second highest number of casualties was ofmilitants, wherein 19 militants perished in violent clashes. Furthermore, no CIA operated drone strikewas recorded in any part of the country this week. Also no significant sabotage attack was reported in any part of the country.

Moreover, a sectarian attack left five activists of Ahle Sunnat Wal Jammat (ASWJ) dead in F.B area of Karachi city (Sindh) during the course of the week. Meanwhile, death toll due to target killings dropped by 10 percent, (38 percent of the total dead against last week 48 percent) during the current week. Overall, 62 percent of the total violent attacks wereoftarget killingin nature.The trend also suggests that target killing persistently remains the weapon of choice in the hands of violent actors to inflict violence (seethe pie chart below).

Furthermore, data underlines that of the total 20 incidents of target killings; a staggering 60 percent took place in Karachi alone, decimating 16 people (59 percent of the total dead in target killings) and injuring another. Death toll of the militants in the ongoing military operations in KP and FATA region decreased by four percent; militant casualties due to military operation accounted for 27 percent of the total fatalities against last week 31 percent. Meanwhile, six security personnel were killed and eight others got injured during the week.

Also, nine dead bodies were recovered from different areas of Karachi city, Sindh. In sum, the number of violent incidents dropped significantly from last week 55 to 32 during this week, the resultant death toll hence dropped from 87 to 70 during the current week, while the number of wounded decreased from 57 to 54. A concise look into the data and trends of violence across Pakistan suggests that a relatively lower level of violence was witnessed across Pakistan during the current week. The bomb blasts spree, ethno-political and religio-terrorism violence however continued to plague Pakistani civilians.

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