‘After Taliban victory in Afghanistan, TTP stepped up attacks in Pakistan’

Islamabad : In the third quarter of 2021, an uptick was observed in fatalities from violence with the loss of 237 persons as opposed to 203 for the last quarter.

This was stated in CRSS Quarterly Security Report issued here by Centre for Research and Security Studies (CRSS).

The report said that KP province, once again, recorded the highest number of fatalities from violence in the country and the majority of the victims hailed from the former FATA region – apparent fallout of the Taliban’s victory in Afghanistan.

Despite a near-constant decline since 2016, 2021 witnessed a slight rise in violence-related fatalities, which continued into this quarter. There was a 4% rise in Q1, followed by a 3% rise in Q2, and there is a 17% rise now. KP (including ex-FATA) witnessed a sharp rise in violence during Q3 compared to Q2 figures. More than 50% of all fatalities from violence in the country were reported from this region alone.

The violence took a sharp rise in August and declined by roughly the same amount in September. Coincidentally, August 15 was also when the Taliban declared victory in Afghanistan, and the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) stepped up its attacks in Pakistan.

North and South Waziristan ranked the highest in violence-related-fatalities (35 and 30 respectively) among all districts having recorded a greater number of fatalities from violence. Karachi, Quetta, Mastung, Kohistan, and Bajaur also had double-digit fatalities.

According to the report, the intelligence-based ground operations resulted in a high number of militant fatalities, followed by target killings, explosive attacks, armed attacks, and encounters/clashes.

TTP rapidly became very active in Pakistan, claiming five terror attacks during this year that left 24 persons dead (9 Chinese and 15 Pakistani soldiers). Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) also became very active this quarter and carried out eight attacks mostly targeting security personnel. Unidentified militants are also found to have killed ten security persons during intelligence-based operations raising questions about the preparedness of the security forces for such operations.

Punjab and Sindh were the two provinces affected by sectarian violence during this quarter. The majority of the victims of sectarian violence were from the Shia community (4 persons) and one from the Ahmadi community. Although the number of fatalities from sectarian violence is less than what was experienced in the previous quarter, the growing level of hatred and intolerance is a matter of much concern, concluded the report.