Record 70pc reduction in terror attacks in Pakistan after 2014

State Dept’s country report on terrorism says terror attacks
rise enormously in Bangladesh and India

ISLAMABAD: A series of anti-Taliban military offences has helped Pakistan reduce terror attacks by nearly 70 percent during the past two years, a period during which other regional countries faced surge in violence orchestrated by militants.

Only 477 major and minor terrorism attacks have been reported this year so far in Pakistan compared to around 2,000 in 2014, reveal official statistics compiled by the National Counter Terrorism Authority (Nacta), exclusively obtained by Geo News/The News.

The significant decline is attributed to the operations by the Pakistan military launched by mid-2014 to push back militants linked with al-Qaeda from its lawless tribal region on the Afghan border.

This was the time when terror attacks in Bangladesh and India rose enormously, according to latest country reports on terrorism released by the US Department of States.  Its statistics showed violence drastically dropped in Pakistan. The National Counterterrorism Center, part of Office of the Director of National Intelligence, through the Worldwide Incidents Tracking System in America collected these statistics which put Pakistan at third place with improved law and order situation in the list of top ten countries with the most terror attacks. 

In 2012, Pakistan was atop the list while Afghanistan, Iraq, India and Nigeria were also included to this list accordingly. Bangladesh was particularly hit by violence with militants attacks increasing nearly 400 percent in 2015 compared to a year ago (2014). More than 459 attacks were recorded last year compared to just over a hundred in 2014, States Department statistics continued to reveal. 

An increased in violence was reported with 791 terror attacks in 2015 as compared to 764 in 2014 in India last year.  This is the highest number of terrorist incidents and deaths since 2010 and there were 763 incidents which represents a 20 per cent increase from 2013 in India which left Nigeria behind which witnessed less attacks than India, reveal the US Department statistics. 

Pakistan witnessed a thousand attacks last year as compare to 2014 which witnessed nearly 2, 000 attacks. As many 28,328 people killed and 35,320 injured in 11,774 terrorist attacks in more than 92 countries in 2015, the report concluded.

Nacta’s newly compiled figures exclusively obtained by Geo News/The News revealed that terror attacks gradually started decreasing since June, 2014 when Pakistan launched operation Zarb-e-Azb. 

Around 4,307 civilians and security personnel lost their lives and 11, 400 injured in 5,000 terror attacks after 2013 in Pakistan, according to Nacta’s official figures. The country witnessed record reduction in violence this year as compared to last ten years, recording 503 deaths of civilians and security personnel in 477 terror attacks by August 7, 2016, official figures continued to reveal that around 1, 157 people also injured this year.  

Around 838 innocent people were killed and 1,706 injured in 1,139 terror incidents in 2015, 1, 172 civilians and security personnel were killed and 3, 185 injured in 1, 816 terror incidents in 2014. 

In 2013, around 1, 794 innocent people were killed and 5, 352 injured in 1,571 terror incidents while 1,163 civilians and security personnel were killed and 3, 346 injured in 1, 316 incidents in 2012.

Nacta National Coordinator Ihsan Ghani said despite criticism and misperceptions about Zarb-e-Azb and the National Action Plan (NAP), the general sense of security and improved law and order situation in the country spoke of the successes of the both. 

Armed militias have been curtailed, glorification of terrorism on media reduced, terrorist network weakened by blocking 98 million SIMs and hate speech and material confiscated in bulk, he claimed. 

While terrorist attacks have shown an upward trend in India and Bangladesh, there has been a sharp drop in such attacks in Pakistan, Nacta chief told The News. “The gains of Zarb-e-Azb and NAP will have to be sustained through long term measures. Both [NAP and Zarb-e-Azb] have made a visible impact on the law & order and security situation in the country where terrorist attacks have climbed down to pre-2005 level. Though it is tough to sustain this momentum, the government pledged to achieve through soft long-term measures,” Ghani opined.