57pc surge in violence during 9 months of 2023: CRSS report

Islamabad : Pakistan’s security forces have lost at least 386 personnel, 36 percent of total fatalities - including 137 army and 208 police personnel - in the first 9 months of 2023, marking an eight-year high as the country continues to battle proxy terrorism, largely in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan.

With 1087 violence-related fatalities recorded so far during the year, the outlaws suffered 368 (34%), followed by civilians with 333 (31%) fatalities”, says Centre for Research and Security Studies (CRSS) report - Q3 2023. The report says that over the past five years, there has been a consistent and alarming surge in violence in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) and Balochistan provinces. Equally greater concern is the collective percentage of violence-related fatalities recorded in these two provinces which indicates a disturbing upward trend over the last five years; together, they suffered 72% of all fatalities in 2019, and this unsettling figure surged to a staggering 92% in the first 9 months of 2023.

As for the third quarter of 2023, some 445 people lost their lives and 440 suffered injuries from as many as 190 terror attacks and counter-terror operations. KP and Balochistan provinces were the primary centres of violence, accounting for nearly 94% of all fatalities and 89% of attacks (including incidents of terrorism and security forces operations) recorded during this period. The last three months of 2023 also recorded an alarming surge in violence by about 57%, with the overall number of fatalities increasing from 284 in Q2 to 445 in Q3, 2023.

This includes a staggering 131% uptick recorded in Balochistan and 28% in KP. Punjab witnessed a substantial 67% decrease in violence compared to the last quarter, while Sindh saw a 283% rise in violence though the number of fatalities was very low (23). Nearly 79% of all violence-related casualties recorded in third quarter of 2023 resulted from terrorism; where 141 terrorist attacks caused 318 fatalities and 381 injuries of civilians and security personnel.

On the other hand, the security operations were as low as 49 leaving 127 outlaws dead and 59 injured. This reflects a huge gap between the frequency of terror attacks and counter-terror operations as well as the number of outlaws eliminated in security operations. Boring the heaviest brunt of violence, civilians were the biggest victims in this quarter; suffering nearly 58% of all casualties, followed by security personnel, suffering nearly 23%. The outlaws suffered the least; constituting only about 20% of all casualties in this period. The first 9 months of 2023 reveal some alarming trends with regard to the security forces' losses.

First, with 386 lives lost so far into the year, their fatalities have hit a record 8-year high, exceeding the 2016 level and highest since 2015. Second, their percentage of the fatalities among other victims of violence recorded this year (nearly 36%) has also hit a record 11-year high. And third, the period from 2021 onwards records a constant rise in their number of fatalities.