An Overview
Pakistan’s security landscape was punctuated with mounting militant attacks, sporadic incidents of ethno-political violence, renewed wave of ambushes against the security forces’ convoys in conflict-hit areas coupled with sectarian tensions. The suicide attacks on the office of Crime Investigation Department (CID) and a Friday congregation in Karachi and Frontier Region (FR) Kohat respectively, a powerful bomb blast outside the office of Jamaat-i-Islami (JI) in Peshawar sum up the overall security situation of the country. Meanwhile conflicting news about a possible military action in North Waziristan waned  after the government’s decision not to initiate any such operation prior to completion of its ongoing campaigns against militants in Swat, South Waziristan and Orakzai Agencies.

Despite military’s claims of clearing more than 90% of Orakzai Agency from militants’ presence and establishing the writ of the government, fighting continued in these areas with stiff resistance from militants. In Swat,  following considerable improvement in  security situation, army has decided to reduce the number of its troops by one division. In order to deal with the possible terrorist attacks during the upcoming moth of,Muharram (first month of Islamic calendar in which Shia Muslims mourn the death of Imam Hussain, the grand son of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) government has enforced Section 144 in Peshawar, Kohat, D.I. Khan, Hangu and Mardan districts to avoid any untoward situation. Similarly other provincial governments have implemented almost similar type of contingency plan for the maintenance of security during Muharram. Notably a considerable decrease was witnessed in attacks on Afghanistan-bound NATO supply this month. At the external front some skirmishes and clashes were reported along Pak-Afghan border. However on Pak-Indian and Pak-Iran borders  situation remained peaceful. 

Karachi, as usual, was victim of—albeit less intensive-- intermittent cycles of sectarian and ethno-political violence. Punjab’s security landscape was stable and peaceful. Balochistan once again reverberated with attacks of nationalist insurgents perpetrated against government officials, personnel of law enforcement agencies, non-Baloch settlers and government installations. Moreover, targeted killings of Baloch nationalist political leaders and incidents of forced disappearances/illegal detentions were also reported. The recovery of sack-packed bullet-riddled dead bodies, with marks of physical torture, of missing Baloch persons in various areas of Balochistan added to an acute sense of insecurity in the province.

A total of 166 attacks—including 6 suicide attacks-- were reported across Pakistan claiming 228 lives and causing 433 injuries. FATA was the most volatile area of the country where 65 terrorist attacks claimed 25 lives and caused 52 injuries. Balochistan was the second worst hit area where 48 terrorist and nationalist insurgent attacks left 42 people dead and 18 others injured; whereas with 37 terrorist attacks, that killed 126 people and wounded 205 others, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa was the third most affected area. Similarly Karachi suffered 9 attacks that left 35 people dead and 156 others injured; meanwhile two attacks were reported in Punjab as well. The security situation in parts of interior Sindh, Islamabad, Gilgit-Baltistan and Azd Kashmir remained peaceful.  (See Chart 1)

If the casualties in terrorist attacks, operational attacks by the security forces and their clashes with the militants, inter-tribal clashes and cross border attacks throughout the country are counted collectively, the overall number of casualties reaches 639 killed and 655 injured. In 34 incidents of inter-tribal clashes 128 people were killed and 24 others were wounded; while 23 incidents of ethno-political violence claimed 59 lives and caused 42 injuries. This month 15 US drone strikes left 93 suspected militants killed and 42 others injured; while 4 border clashes left seven people injured as well. (See Table 2)

A steady downward trend continues to manifest itself for the third consecutive moth, if compared with pervious months’ security landscapes. However, notwithstanding the numerical decrease in overall number of attacks and casualty figure, the security situation continues to plummet in conflict-hit areas of the country. The slight variations are not suggestive of any marked improvement except some tactical level gains achieved by the security forces. The slight decrease in fatality figure is due to lesser number of civilians killed in suicide attacks this month compared to last month fatalities.  (See Chart 3)

The maximum number of casualties is of the militants who have been killed or injured in their clashes with the security forces, operational attacks and drone strikes. Civilians suffered second highest number of casualties with 267 life losses and 462 injuries mainly in terrorist attacks, incidents of ethno-political violence, nationalist insurgent attacks and seatrain related killings. In terrorist attacks and their clashes with the militants the security forces lost 40 personnel among them --18 FC, 17 police and 2 army, 2 paramilitary and 1 levy force personnel; while 65 others including 26 FC, 16 police, 3 paramilitary and 20 army personnel were wounded. (See Table 4, 4a)

Among a variety of tactics used by the militants the most commonly used tactic was of IEDs with 34 reported incidents; while shooting or firing was the second most widely used tactic with 31 reported incidents. Target killing was the third most commonly used method with 27 reported incidents. Meanwhile 16 incidents remote controlled bomb blasts and14 incidents of rocket attacks were also reported. (See Table 5)