Daily Times

Pakistan has witnessed a sharp decline in the number of terrorist incidents and consequent casualties in the year of 2020

The country has recorded 86 per cent reduction in terror attacks since 2013 and 45 per cent decrease in 2020 compared to the previous year (2019)

In former FATA, there is slight upward tick has been observed in the fatalities due to the militant attacks in the year 2020 comparing to the rest of Pakistan

While on the other hand, Tahreek Taliban Pakistan (TTP), a ban outfit and their affiliates continued to regrouped across the newly merged district with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa

The FATA Research Centre has shared their Annual Security Report for the year 2020 claimed that the Tribal districts has witnessed a nose dive in militancy incidents during the past few years as there is a remarkable surge in militancy and resultant casualties was observed in four out of the seven erstwhile FATA.

The report stats show an increase of 29 percent in terrorism related incidents in the year 2020 as compared to the previous year stated that there are total of 169 violent incidents including 137 terrorism and 32 counter-terrorism were recorded compared to 160 incidents including 106 terrorism and 54 counter-terrorism in the preceding year.

The security report further breakdown of terrorism incidents claimed that the total 137 militancy incidents in 2020 in which 86 militancy attacks (51 percent) targeted the ordinary civilians while 54 attacks (32 percent) were directed against security forces across the newly merged tribal districts with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

The annual report elaborated significant increase of 37 percent in overall casualties claim that there are violent incidents of both terrorist and counter-terrorist which resulted into the total of 390 casualties, in which 226 were killed and 164 injured across the Tribal districts of Pakistan.
The report concluded with the only one militancy attack reported on a truck which was carry goods for NATO forces in Afghanistan, was attacked in Khyber district, a newly merged tribal district some 30 KM away from the provincial capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

The country has witnessed 12% decline with in the last year in violence related fatalities, continuing a trend from 2015, with 600 fatalities reported from terror and counter-terror related incidents.

While on the other hand, the erstwhile FATA suffered the greatest number of fatalities, followed by Baluchistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa during the year of 2020

However, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and their Tribal districts has combined account for over 50% of violence-related deaths in the country in the year of 2020.

To know the current situations of tribal district, I have contacted to Farooq Mahsud, a tribal base journalist covering tribal districts for national and intentional media. He has also covered terrorism during peak days and also monitored terrorism very closely after 9/11.

The tribal journalist was of the view that the terrorism activities again increased as compared to the previous year of 2019 due to the regrouping of all the militants under umbrella of the Tahreek Taliban Pakistan.

He was remembering old days right after Zarb Azab shared that tribal districts were very peaceful but right after few year, Tahreek Taliban Pakistan has again announced and started re grouping to accelerate their anti-state activities across tribal districts of Pakistan.

He throws light over the regrouping of the ban outfit in Pakistan said that during Zarb Azab operation launched by the Pakistan armed forces, the militant was fled to Afghanistan, a boarding country with Pakistan.

He shared that after peace talks started between Afghan Taliban and Afghanistan government, they have assured Islamabad that they will not use their territory against any country, as result Tahreek Taliban Pakistan are trying to get back to their native country Pakistan, Mahsud added.

The tribal journalist further explained reasons behind regrouping of the militant express that before Tahreek Taliban was divided and split into different groups which cost them in shape of losing power across Pakistan.

He further elaborated that after a year, the current Ameer of Tahreek Taliban Pakistan has started regroup all their split groups and announced their activities against armed forces which resulting into the increase of terrorism in Pakistan, Mahsud added.

He suggested the government that the security situation in tribal district is rapidly deteriorating and they should need resources and strategy to counter militancy and terrorism while he warns that completely withdrawal of security forces which is expected to be in 2025 will be created a huge vacuum, Mahsud concluded

From 2017, the security agencies conducted more than 371,000 intelligence-based operations (IBOs), including 50 major operations across Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s (KP) tribal districts and Balochistan.

However, the law-enforcement agencies averted more than 50 per cent of the terror threats during the last year and recovered 72,227 weapons and 5 million rounds of ammunition in last three years.

Since 2009, the suicide bombings have also seen a 97 per cent decline while the country has lost 83,000 lives during the war on terror that has cost the country almost US$126 billion

Earlier, the government officials during the press conference focused on the achievements of the war on terror as well as current the security situation and border violations claimed that Pakistan has scored impressive successes against terror groups, demolishing their network and limiting attacks on the country

The spokesperson of Pakistan’s armed forces disclosed in media briefing that more than 18,000 terrorists have been killed during the war on terrorism in the last two decades while at least 1,100 Al Qaida terrorists were either captured or killed to ensure global peace and security.