ISLAMABAD: The year 2024 turned out to be the deadliest for Pakistan’s civil and military security forces in a decade with at least 685 fatalities and 444 terror attacks.This was said in “CRSS Annual Security Report 2024” issued here by Centre for Security and Strategic Studies.
According to the report, equally alarming were the cumulative losses of civilians and security personnel, i.e, 1,612 fatalities, accounting for over 63pc of the total recorded this year, marking 73pc more losses compared to 934 outlaws eliminated.
The overall fatalities recorded this year were a record 9-year high and over 66pc more than 2023. On average, nearly seven lives were lost daily, with November emerging as the deadliest month across all metrics, compared to all other months of the year.
The violence took the heaviest toll on Khyber Pakhtunkhwa which topped in human losses with 1,616 fatalities, followed by Balochistan with 782 fatalities.In 2024, Pakistan suffered 2,546 violence-linked fatalities and 2,267 injuries among civilians, security personnel and outlaws. This tally of casualties stemmed from 1,166 incidents of terror attacks and counter-terror operations, marking a grim year for country’s security landscape.
Compared to 2023, these figures mark an over 66pc surge in violence (2546 vs 1533 fatalities), over 55pc more injuries (2267 vs 1,462) and around 49pc more incidents (1,166 vs 784).
Pakhtoonkhwa and Balochistan accounted for 94pc of all fatalities and 89pc of all incidents across the country.While KP suffered most of fatalities (over 63pc) recorded this year, followed by Balochistan (31pc), the highest surge in violence, compared to last year, however, was recorded in the latter province (90pc), followed by former (65pc), and it disregards 260pc surge in Islamabad as the number of fatalities remains very low in comparison (26).
November was the deadliest month across all metrics with the highest number of attacks (125), fatalities (450) and injuries (625) recorded compared to all other months of the year.The fatalities recorded this year mark a record 9-year high, exceeding 2016 level (2,432) and highest since 2015 (4,366).
Moreover, data collected over the last 10 years shows a sharp downward trend from 2015 to 2020, with fatalities declining each year by around 33pc on average. This 6-year long declining and in fact an encouraging trend in Pakistan’s security landscape was followed by resurgence in 2021.
This is evident from the fact violence in Pakistan constantly surged by 38pc spike in 2021, 15pc in 2022, 56pc in 2023 and 66pc in 2024 (almost 44pc yearly surge in violence on average since 2021).
The highest number of violence and counter-violence-linked fatalities were recorded in KP’s newly-merged districts bordering Afghanistan such as Kurram, North Waziristan, Khyber, while other districts in KP with significant fatalities included Dera Ismail Khan, Bannu and Lakki Marwat.
These districts were followed by Balochistan’s districts of Quetta, Kech, Kalat and Musakhail.Moreover, fatalities in these most severely affected districts of Balochistan in 2024 alone were nearly equal to their combined total recorded over the previous three years (2021-2023), while a similar trend was observed in the hardest-hit districts of KP.
In 2024, an alarming disparity was observed between fatalities of civilians and security personnel vs outlaws:
i) Against 934 outlaws eliminated, civilians and security personnel suffered 1612 fatalities, which account for nearly 73pc more losses compared to outlaws. Their combined losses accounted for over 63pc of all fatalities compared to outlaws’ making up 37pc of total losses recorded this year.
ii) The terror attacks on security officials and civilians outnumbered the security operations conducted against the outlaws, by nearly four times, i.e, 909 terror attacks vs 257 security operations.
In 2024, security forces personnel also suffered highest number of terror attacks and fatalities in a decade - 444 terror attacks and 685 fatalities. This figure exceeds the 2015 level where they suffered 298 attacks and 415 fatalities, and is highest since 2014 (543 terror attacks and 781 fatalities).
The number of terror attacks against them and the resulting losses continued to decline from 2015 to 2020, for six consecutive years. Starting 2021, resurgence was recorded across both these metrics which continued each successive year till the period under review.
Historical data on militancy and insurgency-related fatalities, similar to previous trend on overall fatalities, indicates a sharp upward trend since 2021. The fatalities resulting from militants’ attacks - after continuing to decline for 7 consecutive years (from 2014 to 2020) by a yearly average of around 29pc, surged each year from 2021 onwards till the period under review, by the average of 38pc.
The declining trend in insurgency observed since 2014 also reversed sharply in 2022, with violence escalating by 38pc in 2022, 118pc in 2023 and 192pc in 2024 (116pc surge each year on average).
Sectarian violence in 2024 claimed 182 lives and left 234 people injured. The majority of the victims was Shias, with 79 killed and 35 injured, followed by Sunnis, who suffered 21 fatalities and 72 injuries.
Incidents involving both Shia and Sunni communities resulted in 79 deaths and 117 injuries. Additionally, violence claimed lives of two Ahmadis and one Christian.
Data on sectarian violence reveals a deeply troubling trend, where between 2015 and 2020, sectarian violence claimed 467 lives. Alarmingly, this figure rose to 487 in the subsequent four years (2021-2024), underscoring escalating nature of this threat and its growing impact on Pakistan’s security landscape.
