At least 17 persons were killed and over 20 others injured when a suicide bomber rammed his explosives-laden vehicle into a hospital under construction in the Pas Kalay area of Hangu District in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP, formerly known as North West Frontier Province) on December 10, 2010. Local officials said the hospital, Al-Zohra, was run by a private Shia trust, which also operated a nearby Shia mosque and seminary.
Again, on December 14, three caretakers of the Ghazi Baba shrine, identified as Mohammad Ali, Ghazi and Aslam Khan, were shot dead by militants in the Badbher area of Peshawar, the Provincial capital of KP.
These were far from isolated incidents. According to partial data compiled by the South Asia Terrorism Portal (SATP), a total of 1,204 persons, including 597 civilians, 511 militants and 94 Security Force (SF) personnel, were killed in 213 incidents of killing in 2010 (all data till December 31). This, however, represented a dramatic decline in fatalities as against 2009, when 5,497 persons, including 3,797 militants, 1,229 civilians and 471 SF personnel were killed in 351 such incidents. This reflected a decline of 51.42 per cent in civilian killings, 80.04 per cent in SF killings and 86.54 per cent in terrorists killed in 2010, as against 2009.
The year witnessed 86 major incidents (each resulting in three or more killings) in 2010, as against 183 in 2009. Prominent among the major incidents of 2010 were:
December 8: A suicide bomber blew up a passenger van at a bus stand in Tirah bazaar (market) of Kohat in the Lower Orakzai Agency, killing 19 persons and injuring 32.
September 21: More than 42 militants were killed in ongoing operations against the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) in the Frontier Region of Peshawar.
April 19: At least 24 people, including a child and Police official, were killed, and 49 were injured, in twin bombings, hours apart, at a school and a crowded market in Peshawar.
April 17: Two burqa (veil)-clad suicide bombers targeted a crowd of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) waiting to get themselves registered and receive relief goods at the Kacha Pakka IDP camp on the outskirts of Kohat, killing at least 44 and injuring more than 70
April 5: At least 45 persons were killed and over 100 sustained injuries when a suicide bomber blew himself up at a public meeting of the Awami National Party at the Timergara Rest House in Lower Dir District.
January 1: At least 90 persons were killed when a suicide bomber detonated an explosives-laden pickup truck in the middle of a volleyball game in the Shah Hasan Khel village of Lakki Marwat District in the Bannu Division of KP.
On December 8, 2010, KP Information Minister Iftikhar Hussain disclosed that 647 citizens and 298 Police personnel, and 157 terrorists were killed through 2010. He noted, further, that about 3,600 people had been killed and 1,200 had been injured, since 2007.
KP, like Pakistan’s three other Provinces (Balochistan, Sindh and Punjab), and the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), continued to experience rampant suicide and sectarian attacks. According to SATP data, a total of 489 persons were killed and 767 were injured in 26 suicide attacks in 2010, as compared to 503 persons killed and 1,221 injured in 47 incidents of suicide attacks in 2009, suggesting a significant surge in the lethality of such attacks. Pakistani Terrorism expert Amir Mir, on December 29, 2010, claimed that the year 2010 had proven to be the bloodiest, since 2001, for the people of Pakistan, in terms of suicide attacks, and this was true of the people of KP as well. Of the 1,271 persons who lost their lives in suicide hits in Pakistan in 2010, the largest number, 416, that is, 34 per cent of the total dead, were killed in KP in 25 attacks [Mir’s data]. These figures were confirmed by the report of the Federal Investigation Agency’s Counter-Terrorism Wing on November 28, 2010, which also disclosed that the Province had recorded a total of 141 bomb blasts during the year.
The Province, which has an extended history of sectarian violence, witnessed 139 fatalities in 12 incidents of sectarian attack, as compared to 108 fatalities in such attacks in 2009. The sectarian attacks included a mix of suicide attacks. Data on fatalities in sectarian violence over the past five years indicates a near continuous escalation, with the exception of 2007. Though the number of such attacks has fluctuated, fatalities have grown consistently over this period.
Worryingly, the Government seems to have lost the plot in tackling sectarian violence. On December 8, 2010, the KP Government declared almost half of the Province ‘sensitive’ and approved added security measures, involving deployment of the Army and helicopter gunships, to maintain law and order during Muharram (the mourning period observed by the Shias, commemorating the tragedy of Karbala). According to the Muharram Security Plan, 12 Districts were declared sensitive, requiring extraordinary security arrangements to be put in place. The Minister of Information, Mian Iftikhar Hussain stated that special measures were being taken to protect mosques and Imambargahs (Shia place of worship). In addition to the Police, he added, 109 platoons of the Frontier Reserve Police, 39 platoons of the Elite Force and 800 retired Army personnel were deployed in the sensitive areas. Similarly, 41 platoons of Frontier Constabulary and 1,500 personnel each of the Frontier Corps and Pakistan Army were deployed in the province according to the Plan. Despite all these arrangements, however, a suicide bomber blew up a passenger van at a bus stand in the Tirah bazaar incident of December 8, which left 19 dead. Within the span of a week, there were another three incidents of sectarian attack in different parts of KP, in which 24 persons lost their lives and 35 suffered injuries, making a mockery of the Government’s efforts to prevent sectarian violence.
While almost all the 24 Districts of the Province remain terrorism affected, it was the Swat and Peshawar Districts which bore the brunt of attacks. The fight against TTP terrorism in the Swat Valley is the principal element of the Pakistan Army’s offensive in KP. Since 2007, TTP terrorists, initially under the command of Maulana Fazlullah (he was eventually killed on May 26, 2010) had established effective control of Swat Valley. On April 26, 2009, the Pakistani Army started Operation Black Thunderstorm, with the aim of retaking Buner, Lower Dir, Swat and Shangla Districts in KP, from the TTP. On June 14, the operation was declared over, with the Army claiming it had ‘regained control’ of the region. Pockets of TTP resistance, nevertheless, remained, and the military continued with ‘mopping up’ operations. On October 8, 2009, General Officer Commanding (GOC) Major General Ashfaq Nadeem once again declared victory, claiming that peace had been restored to "95 per cent areas" of the District. On March 17, 2010, KP Minister of Information Mian Iftikhar Hussain ruled out the possibility that the TTP would reorganise in Swat: "The militants cannot dare reorganise. Their network has been smashed." However, Chief of Army Staff (CoAS) General Ashfaq Kayani, while on a visit to the valley on December 21, 2010, declared that the Army would stay on in Swat until the people’s confidence was restored. This is indicative of the fact that the valley, the epicentre of terror in KP, is still out of the reaches of the SFs, belying the often repeated false claims of the Government Forces. Significantly, the official ‘peace’ notwithstanding, at least 234 persons, including 194 militants, 35 civilians and five SF personnel lost their lives in 68 incidents of killing in 2010. This, however, was significantly lower than the 2,196 fatalities, including 1,913 militants, 190 civilians and 93 SF personnel in 175 incidents of killing in 2009. Meanwhile, a Government survey on January 6, 2010, reported that up to 8,000 houses were damaged in the Swat District during the preceding two years of militancy and military operations.
Peshawar, the provincial capital, recorded at least 135 fatalities in 35 incidents of killing in 2010, as compared to 434 fatalities in 49 incidents of killing in 2009. Of these, the April 17 suicide bombing at the Kacha Pakka IDP camp outside Kohat was the worst incident, leaving at least 44 dead. The city witnessed six suicide attacks, 46 incidents of explosion and 12 sectarian attacks.
The tourism sector in KP was badly affected by terrorism, and the Province suffered an estimated loss of USD 400 million. Worse, the damage caused by massive flooding in July- August was still to be fully assessed. Since the Federal Government earned 70 per cent of its revenue from the tourism sector in this province, they needed to pay out 50 million dollars per year to cover the loss in the Province. However, the Federal Government has failed to do so, according to KP Provincial Minister for Tourism, Culture and Sports Syed Aqil Shah. The floods in Pakistan began in July following heavy monsoon, and submerged wide swathes of territory in KP, Sindh, Punjab and Balochistan, affecting the entire Indus River basin. At one point, nearly a fifth of the country’s landmass was under water.
The violence in KP has had a disastrous impact on education. An October 6, 2010 media report quoted official sources as saying that 700 schools, most of them for girls, were targeted and damaged in different parts of KP over the preceding two years. Militants destroyed some 400 schools in the Swat Valley alone. Partial data compiled by the SATP indicates that at least 52 schools – 25 for Girls and 27 for boys – were destroyed in 33 incidents in 2009; while 37 – 18 for girls and 19 for boys – were destroyed in 30 such incidents in 2010. Such is the fear that at least 205 primary schools for girls have been shut down in different parts of KP, sources in the Elementary and Secondary Education (E&SE) disclosed. These included 21 in Peshawar, 36 in Thor Ghar, 54 in Swat, 16 in Bannu, 56 in Shangla, 16 in Hangu, five in Dera Ismail Khan and one in Kohat. The closure of these schools has deprived thousands of girl students of education in a region where women suffer multiple and crushing disadvantages. Significantly, a wider campaign was also launched by the extremists to destroy institutions that propagated any ideas opposed to the Maulana Fazalullah led TTP in Swat. Unsurprisingly, TTP militants targeted schools across KP.
Ominously, there is visible evidence of linkages between the militants, sections of the wider population and Government officials. 29 officials in the KP Education Department were sacked for their alleged links with militants on January 22, 2010. Another 68 suspected officials were being investigated for their alleged involvement in such activities. On January 26, 2010, the KP Government had sacked 55 employees for their links with the TTP. Again, on March 3, 2010, the KP Education Department terminated the services of five teachers in Lower Dir for their alleged links with the TTP.
On January 7, 2010, Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani had unveiled a relief package for the militancy-affected areas of KP, announcing tax concessions, rebates in duties and relief in utility bills – in addition to allocating an additional one per cent share to the Province from the Federal Divisible Pool. Under the relief package, the province was to be divided into three categories: areas ‘worst affected’, ‘affected’ and ‘least affected’ by militancy. Malakand, Swat, Buner, Shangla, and Upper and Lower Dir from PATA; and Hangu, Bannu, Tank, Kohat and Chitral from settled areas, were categorised as the worst affected areas. The Federal Government announced an exemption from income tax, until June 30, 2011, for areas falling in ‘the worst affected’ and ‘affected’ categories. The Chief Minister (CM) Ameer Haider Hoti, on February 4, 2010, approved the creation of an institutional framework to provide support to the victims of terrorism. A Press statement from the CM’s House declared, "The Chief Minister has, in principle, approved the establishment of an institute for the welfare of such affected families." The Prime Minister had already announced the provision of PNR 50 million for the fund.
The impact of the relief packages has been dubious at best, and terrorist disruption continues, with the militants simply moving from one place to another. KP Police Chief Malik Naveed Khan, on April 9, 2010, stated that Kala Dhaka had emerged as the new base for the TTP, who had fled the 2009 Army operations in Swat and other Districts in Malakand. He expressed concern over the new base of the TTP’s Swat chapter, fearing it could make a comeback if not immediately contained. Again, on June 27, 2010, KP Information Minister Mian Iftikhar Hussain conceded that the TTP was in the process of reorganising itself around Peshawar, and was planning to carry out major attacks in the city. "Thousands of terrorists may be gathering in small groups around the areas adjacent to Orakzai Agency, Mohmand Agency and Khyber Agency of FATA", he stated. Federal Minister of Interior Rehman Malik, meanwhile, told the Senate that some 1,800 suspected terrorists had been arrested from different parts of KP on various charges during military operations, and that 12 teams were investigating charges against them.
The massive and indiscriminate Army operations in KP have certainly impacted on the scale and intensity of militancy – even as they have inflicted enormous suffering on the general population in the Province. The many premature declarations of victory by Islamabad notwithstanding, the TTP remains a major force in the region, constantly shifting base and reinventing its strategy and tactics to cope with the military onslaught against it. Like much of Pakistan, the possibility of an enduring peace remain remote in KP.