Pakistan witnessed 17 per cent spike in terrorist violence with 306 attacks last year: Report

Pakistan experienced a 17 per cent surge in terrorist violence in 2023, witnessing a total of 306 militant attacks resulting in the tragic loss of 693 lives. According to PTI, citing a recent report from a think tank, proscribed groups, including the Pakistani Taliban, Islamic State Khorasan, and the Balochistan Liberation Army, were responsible for more than 82 per cent of the casualties. The Pakistan Institute for Peace Studies (PIPS) released its security report for 2023 ahead of the February 8 general elections, raising concerns about the safety of electoral candidates and political leaders during the election campaign and polling, as reported by the Dawn newspaper. The report highlighted the escalating attacks by militants, signaling the likelihood that the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and its affiliates would persist in a heightened campaign of terrorism, aiming to compel Pakistan to resume the dialogue process. This revelation coincided with the interior ministry’s disclosure to the Senate that the continuous influx of TTP members, involving recruitment, training, and deployment of suicide bombers in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s merged districts, poses a significant threat. Military sources, as reported by Dawn, indicated that Afghanistan has not fulfilled its commitments outlined in the Doha agreement, allowing the TTP to use Afghanistan as a base for carrying out terrorist activities within Pakistan. The Pak-Afghan border, described as difficult and porous’, poses a formidable challenge despite security measures. The PIPS report highlights Pakistan’s inadequate response to the rising terrorism and militancy challenge, exacerbated by negotiation attempts with the TTP and the waning political focus due to ongoing crises. Escalating tensions between Pakistan and Afghanistan, fuelled by issues like TTP and Afghan refugees, demand a comprehensive and sustainable counterterrorism strategy, it said. The report correlates a surge in terrorist violence with the Taliban’s ascendancy in Afghanistan, noting the Afghan Taliban’s inability or unwillingness to control TTP’s cross-border activities. In 2023, security and law enforcement agencies intensified anti-militant kinetic actions with 129 operational strikes, compared to 87 in 2022, resulting in 425 deaths and 51 injuries. Of these strikes, 97 occurred in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 28 in Balochistan, three in Punjab, and one in Karachi, Sindh, the report said. A total of 306 terrorist attacks took place in Pakistan in the year including 23 suicide bombings which killed 693 people (330 security personnel, 260 civilians, and 103 militants) and injured 1,124 others. These attacks marked an increase of 17 per cent from the year before, and the number of people killed in these attacks also represented an increase of 65pc from those killed in similar attacks during the previous year, it said. That comparative upsurge of 17 per cent in terrorist violence was contributed by an increase in the number of attacks reported from all four provinces. Compared to 2022, the frequency of terrorist incidents in the Balochistan province increased by 39 per cent, in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa by 3 per cent, in Sindh by 87 per cent and in Punjab by 100 per cent. Experts argued that short-term success in countering terrorism through kinetic approaches neglects the root causes of violent extremism. Eliminating terrorists doesn’t address enduring ideological drivers. To decrease support for insurgent ideas, especially among Baloch people, address disappearances with fair policies, preventing misuse by militants, the report said. With inputs from agencies