During the last eight months of this year, from January to August 31, in different target killings, militant attacks, incidents of terrorism (including suicide bombs by the Pakistani Taliban and different sectarian groups) and security operations by the armed forces and intelligence agencies 4,286 persons were killed and 4,066 injured.
The statistics for this period was compiled by the Center for Research and Security Studies (CRSS).
Due to the absence of the rule of law and the impotency of the courts Pakistan has become a killing field where the militants, the Taliban and Muslim fundamentalist and the security forces operate with impunity. For each of these factions and even for the civilian rulers there is no dignity, respect for life or sense of justice for their victims who are innocent Pakistanis that they see as merely cannon fodder for their ulterior motives. The right to life has lost all meaning to the ruling clique who was elected by the people they are now failing to protect.
Since the rise of militancy in Pakistan not a month goes by without innocent people being sacrificed to the war on terror. The courts, prosecution and the investigation authorities are so afraid of the militants that they turn a blind eye to the killings while enjoying and demanding increases in the budgetary allowances to maintain their offices. In this situation the state has shown itself to be impotent in protecting the lives of the people they have sworn to protect. The only response by the President, the Prime Minister and the ministers is predictably nothing more than messages of condolence to the victims and their families in an effort to mollify them. The lives of women and children are of no importance to these functionaries that are happy to quote the increased numbers of killings in order to get foreign aid and public money in the guise of providing protection.
The state has gone to the dogs and the militants are enjoying the lacuna in the legal and judicial affairs. There is a catastrophic failure in the criminal justice system and until the civilian government of Prime Minister Nawaz Shareef reestablishes this system the mayhem will continue unabated. However, it is apparent from their lack of action that the government has no political will to control the militancy in the country. It is also increasingly apparent that the government is using the militancy to cover up their incompetence in dealing with the growing economic crisis facing the country.
Please find the complete report here.
A brief summary of the report follows:
The report says that the month of August witnessed a mixed scenario of successes and failures in terms of tackling the violence and bringing peace to Pakistan. Two worst-hit regions of the country saw a significant decline in violence while the other two experienced a sudden surge in violent acts. For the people of Bara subdivision of Khyber Agency, the reopening of several roads that were shut down for almost four years was a major relief and news of great jubilation for residents there. For a long time, the region was under the control of the Lashkar-i-Islam and it took four years for a military operation to clear Bara from the militants.
In Mohmand Agency, the people celebrated completion of the successful military operation against militants. While inaugurating Yadgar-e-Shahuda (Martyrs’ Monument) on 17thAugust 2013, the Frontier Corps Inspector General Major General Ghayoor Mehmood proudly announced that the writ has been restored in Mohmand Agency. Having endured militancy and resultant displacement for over a decade, the Tribal Elders of Mohmand and Bajaur regions convened a jirga of different tribes and urged local residents to forge unity to thwart the designs of anti-peace elements.
Amid these success stories came the sad reports of Eid Day massacres of innocent when two suicide attacks, shamelessly claimed by the Taliban, killed 48 persons and wounded 55 others in Quetta. Prior to this horrifying incident, a group of 200 armed persons of Balochistan Libration Army (BLA) had a field day on 7th August 2013 in Machh of Bolan when they carried out their sinister operation of slaughtering 14 persons after kidnapping them from the passenger buses which were on route to Punjab from Quetta.
However, the brighter part of the month was that the total number of casualties stood at around 432, the lowest for the whole year. Until August, the average monthly death toll was nearly 530.
All these events and other facts reported in the national newspapers are collected to make this report as informative and factual as possible. Errors and omissions, as always a possibility in all statistical works including this one, are expected.
However, such mistakes do not grossly affect the basic objective of the report, which mainly covers the following topics:
Target killings, militants’ attacks, terrorism and security operations.
The CRSS will appreciate receiving comments that the readers may have on this report.
Report prepared by:
Mohammad Nafees
Senior Research Fellow
Center for Research and Security Studies
Data compilation by:
Fariha Farry
NOTE: Readers can approach CRSS for source of any information included in the report. Please send your request to: mail@crss.pk
To support this case, please click here: SEND APPEAL LETTER
SAMPLE LETTER
