According to the Pak Institute for Peace Studies’ Pakistan (PIPS) security report for 2023, the banned outfits like the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), Islamic State Khorasan (IS-K), and Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) accounted for over 82 per cent of terrorism-related deaths and conducted 78 per cent of terrorist attacks recorded in 2023, reports Dawn. The report said militants’ intensifying attacks indicate that the TTP and its affiliates will continue to resort to an intensified terrorism onslaught with a view to ‘force’ Pakistan to reinstate the process of dialogue.
The PIPS report highlights Pakistan’s inadequate response to the rising terrorism and militancy challenge, exacerbated by negotiation attempts with the TTP and waning political focus due to ongoing crises. Escalating tensions between Pakistan and Afghanistan, fuelled by issues like TTP and Afghan refugees, demand a comprehensive and sustainable counterterrorism strategy, report added. The report correlates a surge in terrorist violence with the Taliban’s ascendancy in Afghanistan, noting the Afghan Taliban’s inability or unwillingness to control TTP’s cross-border activities.
In 2023, security and law enforcement agencies intensified anti-militant kinetic actions with 129 operational strikes, compared to 87 in 2022, resulting in 425 deaths and 51 injuries. Of these strikes, 97 occurred in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), 28 in Balochistan, three in Punjab, and one in Karachi, Sindh. A total of 306 terrorist attacks took place in Pakistan in the year — including 23 suicide bombings — which killed 693 people (330 security personnel, 260 civilians, and 103 militants) and injured 1,124 others. These attacks marked an increase of 17pc from the year before, and the number of people killed in these attacks also represented an increase of 65pc from those killed in similar attacks during the previous year.
That comparative upsurge of 17 per cent in terrorist violence was contributed by an increase in the number of attacks reported from all four provinces. Compared to 2022, the frequency of terrorist incidents in the Balochistan province increased by 39 per cent, in KP by 3 per cent, in Sindh by 87 per cent and in Punjab by 100 per cent.