Number of deaths in violence-related events decrease by 21pc

Islamabad: The number of deaths in violence-related events decreased by 21 per cent in the country in 2017, said the executive summary of Annual Security Report which will be released here later this month by the Centre for Research and Security Studies. The research conducted by Muhammad Nafees compiles data from secondary sources to try to paint a picture of the ongoing security situation in Pakistan.

The violence dropped in every province or region, except Punjab but militants continued to exploit sectarian fault lines where violence increased by 32% over 2016. As many as 4,131 casualties were reported from violence in 2017, including 2,057 fatalities and 2,074 injuries. In contrast, there were 2,613 fatalities in 2016 and 4,647 fatalities in 2015. Though the decline is not as dramatic this year, the continually improving security situation is a positive development.

Of the top five districts with the highest fatalities, three were provincial capitals – Karachi (337), Lahore (149) and Quetta (128). In Punjab, there was a 10% increase in violence-related fatalities, with 469 fatalities in 2017. Balochistan (489) had the highest number of fatalities, followed by Punjab (469), Sindh (455) and the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (436).

The largest change was observed, once again, in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, where fatalities dropped from 357 in 2016 to 192 in 2017, a decline of 53%. The primary sources of violence that resulted in deaths included encounters with law enforcement (495), gun violence (399), suicide attacks (298), and bomb explosions (144). Sectarian violence escalated dramatically, with a 32% increase overall. A total of 319 individuals lost their lives to sectarian violence in 2017, as opposed to 241 in 2016.