Author:                [Muhammad Nafees [email protected]]
Editor:                  [Zeeshan Salahuddin [email protected]]
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Provincial/Regional Breakdown – 2017

As many as 4,131 casualties were reported from violence this year, including 2057 fatalities and 2074 injuries (table 1). This is a 21% drop in fatalities from 2016, and the third year in a row that violence-related fatalities in the country are on the decline.

February was the deadliest month in 2017, and July the least deadly. Due to a string of attacks, February casualties stand in sharp contrast to the remaining months, despite being the shortest month.

Despite a 21% overall drop in violence related fatalities across the country, the number of militant fatalities dropped by only 8%, implying that civilians and security forces are enjoying the reduction in violence less than the criminal elements.

Comparative Provincial/Regional Breakdown – 2015-2017

All regions, except Punjab, showed a reduction in fatalities from violence during this year as compared to last year. The province of Balochistan recorded the highest number of fatalities, yet it was nearly 40% less than 2016 (table 3).  These fatalities occurred mainly from security operations, militant attacks (suicide attacks, armed attacks, indiscriminate firing), target killings (dead bodies found, and gunning down of the victims), robberies, cross-border attacks, and drone attacks.

District Breakdown – 2016 vs. 2017

Of the top five districts with the highest fatalities, three were provincial capitals – Karachi, Lahore and Quetta. Kurram Agency also witnessed a sharp rise in violence-related fatalities this year (table 4).

Sources of Violence – 2016 vs. 2017

Data suggests that suicide bombing is on the decline, and the militants are using other forms of explosives to achieve their goals. Most fatalities from violence resulted from encounters with law enforcement, gun attacks, suicide attacks, bomb explosions, and clashes with the militants (table 5).

Sectarian Violence– 2016 vs. 2017

Sectarian violence escalated dramatically, with a 32% increase overall (table 6). This is especially troublesome when you contrast the fact that overall violence decreased by 21%.

Shia and Shia Hazara communities suffered the most from sectarian violence, followed by Sufi devotees. The other religious communities like Christians, Sunnis, Ahmadis, and Hindus were also targeted (table 7).

Conclusion

Overall, the security situation continues to improve. However, sectarian violence increased by alarming levels. In fact, out of the 298 victims of suicide attacks, 162 were attacked because of their faith. Additionally, 84 persons lost their lives to bomb attacks targeted at religious communities. The other forms of violence that were used to carry out on sectarian basis were IED explosions (25) and armed attacks/clashes (34).

More than 80% of the sectarian attacks were claimed by the banned militant outfits, principal among them Daish (Islamic State) and Lashkar-e-Jhangvi Al-Alami (LeJ-AA). In total, 125 people were targeted by Daish, 121 by LeJ-AA, and 23 by Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan’s splinter group Jamaat-ul-Ahrar (TTP-JA).

Terror attacks alone resulted in 1,180, down from 1,289 in 2016. In both years, nearly 70% of the fatalities were civilians, nearly 25% were security officials and militants accounted for the rest. Although there was a decline in policemen’s fatalities this year (35%), high level police officials were targeted by militants. In 2017, four Station House Officers, two Deputy Inspector Generals, two Superintendents, two Deputy Superintendents, and Additional Inspector General and a District Police officer were killed. Five officer grade personnel of the Armed Forces embraced martyrdom during this year that included a Lieutenant Colonel, a Major, a Captain, a Jr. Commanding Officer, and a Lieutenant. A former L Lieutenant Colonel also became victim of target killing in Karachi.