A security report for 2020 released by Pakistan institute for Peace Studies (PIPS) on January 2, said while the outlawed Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and affiliates continued to regroup in erstwhile FATA, Sindhi and Baloch insurgent groups have also intensified attacks, reports Dawn. The report stated that though terrorism was no longer an epidemic in Pakistan, the country faced a more severe challenge of religious extremism. “There is also little evidence to suggest that National Action Plan has been successful in countering these and the related challenges,” the report added. The TTP and its affiliates remained the major actors of instability in Pakistan in the year 2020 which perpetrated a combined total of 67 terrorist attacks or about 46 per cent of the total reported attacks in 2020, mainly in erstwhile FATA. “The TTP also successfully brought its few breakaway factions and some other militant groups and commanders into its fold. Another religiously-inspired militant group, the Islamic State, perpetrated two major attacks in 2020 in Quetta and Peshawar.” While six Baloch insurgent groups were found active in Balochistan, the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) and Baloch Liberation Front (BLF) were the two major groups which carried out 24 attacks out of the total 34 perpetrated by the Baloch insurgents. Meanwhile, Sindhi nationalist groups perpetrated 10 terrorist attacks in Sindh, including eight by Sindhudesh Revolutionary Army.