ISLAMABAD, Jan 4: The security situation in Pakistan during 2007 remained “highly unsatisfactory” amid terrorist attacks throughout the year, with the NWFP, tribal areas and the twin-city of Rawalpindi and Islamabad appeared as the most troubled spots where “Taliban and Al Qaeda operatives” kept striking army troops and personnel of law-enforcement agencies, says a research report of a private think tank.
According to the report prepared by the Pak Institute for Peace Studies (PIPS), as many as 1,442 terrorist attacks, incidents of political violence and border clashes took place in 2007, leaving a record 3,448 persons dead and 5,353 injured.
“Pakistan People’s Party chairperson Benazir Bhutto’s tragic assassination and continued attacks on and kidnapping of army personnel round the year put a big question mark on the efficiency and effectiveness of the security forces against terrorism and to control the law and order situation in the country,” says the report released here on Friday.
It said of the 1,442 incidents of violence, 1,306 were terrorist attacks carried out by the local Taliban, jihadi and sectarian groups and Baloch nationalist insurgents. It said that on the borders with Afghanistan and Iran, the security situation remained intense and 23 major clashes were reported.
In response to the terrorist attacks, the security forces conducted 61 counter-attacks in Fata, Swat and its adjoining areas and in Balochistan.
“The causalities remained higher than the last two years as 3,448 persons got killed and 5,353 injured in 2007. The casualty figures are 128 per cent and 491.7 per cent higher than 2006 and 2005, respectively,” it said.
The highest number of casualties — 1,663 — was reported in the tribal areas. Around 1,096 people were killed in the NWFP. As many as 224 casualties were reported in Balochistan, while 205 persons were killed in Karachi.
The 1,974 civilians killed make 57.25 per cent of the total casualties. The maximum number of civilians (929) was killed in the tribal areas followed by the NWFP, Karachi and Balochistan, with 557, 185 and 157 civilian casualties, respectively.
Security forces were increasingly targeted in 2007. In total 466 security personnel were killed, including 163 paramilitary forces (FC and Rangers), 71 policemen and 232 Pakistan Army personnel. As many as 175 security personnel were killed in the tribal areas and 170 in the NWFP, followed by 63, 20, 19 and 18 in Balochistan, Karachi, Islamabad and Punjab, respectively.
The report, based on data from newspapers, magazines, journals, field sources and consultation with official records, said that the security forces had killed 1,008 terrorists and miscreants, and arrested 1,636 suspected terrorists, including 427 Taliban, 53 Al Qaeda members, 740 Baloch nationalist insurgents and 315 banned jihadi organisations’ militants.
In 2006, the security agencies had arrested 1,552 suspected terrorists, including 1,094 Taliban and Afghans, 47 Al Qaeda operatives, 198 other militants and 213 Baloch insurgents.
The country braved 60 suicide attacks in 2007, mostly aimed at security forces, which killed at least 770 people and injured 1,574 others.
“As many as 12 incidents of political clashes during 2007 took 64 lives, besides injuring 222 others. The maximum number (nine) of such clashes was reported in Karachi while one incident each was reported in Rawalpindi, Hyderabad and Nasirabad (Balochistan). The most violent political clashes ignited on May 12 in Karachi which left 45 persons dead and 195 injured,” it said.
Over 145 participants of a procession led by Benazir Bhutto lost their lives on October 18 after two powerful blasts rocked the slow-moving motorcade on Shahrae Faisal in Karachi. At least 350 people were injured and a huge loss to vehicles was caused by the blasts.
An intensified wave of violence and agitation gripped the country after Ms Bhutto’s assassination on Dec 27. Just three days of turbulence left more than 50 people dead and about 100 injured.
The report said that 134 people were killed and more than 200 injured during the Lal Masjid operation in Islamabad in July, 2007. The operation was followed by two violent suicide attacks in the capital, killing at least 34, including eight policemen, and wounding 125 others.
Two suicide attacks in Rawalpindi on Sept 4 (one in Qasim Market and the other in R.A. Bazaar) killed 30 and injured another 68 persons. A convoy of security forces was bombed near Mingora, Swat district, on October 25. Thirty personnel of the Frontier Constabulary (FC) and four civilians were killed in the attack.
A suicide bomber struck a police checkpoint in the high security zone of Rawalpindi, less than a kilometre away from President Musharraf’s camp office, on October 30, killing eight people, four of them policemen, and injuring 30 others.
A suicide bomber rammed his motorcycle into a PAF bus on the Faisalabad Road, Sargodha, on Nov 1, killing seven officers of the Pakistan Air Force and three civilians.
Two suicide bombers struck in Rawalpindi (Hamza Camp and GHQ) on Nov 24 during the morning rush, targeting military personnel and installations. At least 18 people were killed and 40 others injured. Almost all of the victims were either military personnel or civilians working for an intelligence agency.
The security forces were randomly targeted and kidnapped in the NWFP and Fata. More than 200 soldiers of the Pakistan Army were kidnapped on Aug 30 in South Waziristan and released on November 4 in exchange for 25 terrorists’ released by the government.
Many soldiers were beheaded and slaughtered in the tribal belt and settled districts of the NWFP during 2007. There was a visible increase in suicide attacks during and after the July Lal Masjid operation. Only in July, 15 suicide attacks were reported, mostly in the NWFP, Islamabad and Punjab, which killed 191 and injured 366 people. There were eight and seven suicide attacks in August and September, respectively. December 2007 was also a month of suicide bomber when 10 suicide attacks hit the country, including the Liaquat Bagh attack that killed former prime minister Benazir Bhutto.