Daily Times

Pakistan experienced a 12% decline in overall violence during the second quarter of 2024 from April to June, a local think tank’s report said on Monday, noting that the country’s northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) and southwestern Balochistan provinces remained the “epicenters of violence” during this period.

Pakistani think tank Center for Research and Security Studies (CRSS) released the report on Monday. The CRSS, established in September 2007, says it is dedicated to advancing knowledge and understanding through research endeavors and publications, from in-depth analyzes of regional and national dynamics to policy recommendations for sustainable development.

In a report titled, “Overview Of Pakistan’s Security Landscape In Q2 2024” the CRSS stated that Pakistan witnessed 380 violence-linked fatalities and 220 injuries among civilians, security personnel, and outlaws in the second quarter of this year. These fatalities took place due to 240 incidents of terror attacks and counter-terror operations, the report said. Of these fatalities, 236 included civilians and security forces personnel.

“Violence and casualty rates across the country plummeted in Q2, 2024,” the report said. “The country experienced a 12% reduction in overall violence, with 380 fatalities recorded compared to 432 in Q1 2024.”

It said KP and Balochistan were the “epicenters of violence” accounting for nearly 92% of all fatalities and 87% of attacks (including incidents of “terrorism” and security forces operations) during the second quarter.

KP suffered 67% and Balochistan 25% of all fatalities during this period, the report disclosed, noting that the data reflected the remaining regions of the country were “relatively peaceful” and suffered only 8 percent of all fatalities.

It said Balochistan showed “remarkable” improvement, with the rate of violence dropping to almost 50 percent during the second quarter. “The most notable improvement was seen in Balochistan, where violence decreased by 46 percent, with fatalities falling from 178 in Q1 to 96 in Q2 2024,” the report pointed out.

It added that violence saw a notable decline of 32% in Pakistan’s southern Sindh province while “similar downward trends” were reported in Pakistan’s capital Islamabad and its semi-autonomous region of Gilgit-Baltistan.

The report noted that outlaws accounted for the majority of fatalities, 38%, followed by civilians, who accounted for 32% of all the casualties during the second quarter of 2024. Security and government officials comprised 30% of all the casualties, it said.

“Compared to Q1, civilian and security forces’ fatalities decreased by 21% and 10%, respectively, while militant fatalities increased by 29%,” the CRSS report said. “Notably, only 2 insurgents were killed in Q2, a sharp decline from 41 in Q1.”

However, the report also acknowledged some of the worrying trends of the second quarter, most notably that civilians, government officials, and security personnel suffered 62 percent of all fatalities, compared to the 38 percent figure for outlaws.

“Civilians suffered the highest number of militant and insurgent attacks,” the report said.

Pakistan has seen an uptick in attacks on its western provinces bordering Afghanistan. The South Asian country has blamed the recent surge in militant attacks on neighboring Afghanistan, which it says allows Pakistani Taliban militants to hold camps and train insurgents to launch attacks inside Pakistan.

Kabul denies this. Since last November, the Pakistan government has also launched a deportation drive under which over 600,000 Afghan nationals have been expelled from Pakistan.

Pakistan’s Defense Minister Khawaja Asif threatened to launch cross-border attacks in Afghanistan to carry out alleged militant targets in the country. His statement was criticized by the Taliban government in Kabul, who warned him that such a move would have “consequences.”