A dangerous country

This refers to the news report, ‘Pakistan among most dangerous countries’ (April 2). The source of the report is some obscure agency in Washington. No references or statistical data have been provided to support the assumption.
The actual situation happens to be very different. The level of violence is determined by the rate of deaths per 100,000 people due to violence over a given period. In Pakistan the rate is less than that in the US (5.0 as against 6.5). It is only a fraction of what it is in almost all of Africa, Latin America (including Mexico) and also Russia. It is about the same as for India and Israel but less than in most of Eastern Europe.
K Hussan Zia
Lahore