Terrorists have targeted the Pakistani people and security forces in different parts of Pakistan without a break, and it would prove to be quite upsetting if we were to present the facts and figures of these losses. It is apparent from these figures that Pakistan is facing a highly organized and dangerous enemy. A few days ago two reports were made public which honestly presented the financial and human losses suffered by the Pakistani people and our security forces over the past few years.
Investigating Report
The first report was prepared by the Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR), and the second by a credible research institute, known as the Pakistan Institute for Peace Studies. This report was based on the details of the events of the year 2009. According to the ISPR report, from 2009 to date a daily average of 10 security personnel were killed.
Without going into detail, the crux of the report is that, during the past few years, terrorists have martyred 2273 soldiers, 78 officers, and 21,672 civilians. The report also states that the total number of security personnel killed, including police personnel, comes to 8,785, while the total number of casualties, including civilians and security personnel, is 30,452. The report also said that 17,742 terrorists have been killed or arrested since 2002.
Increase in Terror Attacks
The increase in terrorist attacks during the year 2009 can be gauged from the fact that the number of civilian and security forces killed is ten thousand. The other report is called the Security Report, 2009. According to this report, terrorist attacks increased during the year 2009 compared to previous years, and 12,632 people were killed during the year. In 2009, 87 suicide attacks were carried out. At least 70 per cent of these attacks took place in the NWFP, where 1,137 were killed, destabilizing the province itself.
The report said that during the year 2008, around 963 persons were killed in a total of 63 suicide attacks, and during the year 2009, a total of 1300 persons were killed in 87 suicide attacks. Details of other attacks, including suicide attacks, were also given. In the NWFP (North West Frontier Province) there were 1,137 attacks, in the Tribal Areas there were 559, in Balochistan 792, in the Punjab 46, in Sind 36, in Islamabad 12, and in Gilgit-Baltistan and Kashmir 5 attacks each were reported. The report said that during the year 2009, some 12,632 people were killed and 13,815 injured in suicide attacks, Drone attacks, target killings, and sectarian clashes.
The report also indicated that during this year, the city of Peshawar was targeted repeatedly, and reached a peak by early 2010. During the year 2009, Peshawar was targeted by 170 suicide attacks and bomb blasts, which killed 450 people in the city of Peshawar alone. Most of the killed were common, helpless, unarmed civilians. The report also said that the centers of terrorism in Southern Punjab dominated the terrorist scene during the year 2009, and 50 per cent of the terrorists active throughout the country belonged to this region.
The said that terrorists were more trained and better equipped than the police and other security agencies, while a clear lack of effective coordination and collaboration between the police and other security and intelligence agencies was acutely obvious.
Facts and Figures
If we compare the facts and figures of the year 2009 with previous years, we discover that not only did the terrorists have an edge over security personnel, they also did not spare any area or city of Pakistan, including Islamabad. It was also confirmed that the number of casualties continued to increase, and an increasing number of civilians were targeted. These facts and figures should be a matter of concern for those people who have justified the actions of the terrorists through various arguments and justifications, and still continue to say that the attacks carried out within Pakistan are a reaction to the US presence.
However, February 2010 has been comparatively peaceful, but the latter half has been marred by almost daily attacks. Three days after an attack in the Khyber Agency, police personnel were targeted by two suicide attacks in the beautiful city of Mansehra, in Hazara region. This not only indicated the presence of terrorists throughout the country, but also revealed the dangerous strategy of local and foreign anti-Pakistan elements.
In addition to the Chaman and Torkham routes, terrorists planned to target the Silk Road as well since it is the major trade route between China and Pakistan. In other words, these terrorists have decided to apply the same formula against China which they have been using against the United States. There is a need to look at the Mansehra attack in the background of the Silk Route, instead of considering it as a typical attack.
Threat to Silk Route
The people who consider it to be a normal attack must keep in mind that there have been attacks in this beautiful valley in the past as well. Mansehra has been a training center of two Jihadi groups in the past. And the roads and routes in the hills of this area can easily provide access to Kashmir, China, the Northern Areas of Pakistan, and Swat. Therefore, such elements will not ignore the geographical location of the region, given that they have plans to further their hostile agendas in order to become a part of some international agenda in the backdrop of Pak-China relations.
This background should also be kept in view considering that just a few kilometers from this region is the area of Kala Dhaka, which has been used as a main route by Jihadi and militant forces in the recent past. Not far from this area is the military academy of Kakul, from where the borders of Kashmir and Swat are quite near.
It is the duty of the policymaking institutions of Pakistan to begin work on a plan to secure the major trade routes between Pakistan and China against terrorists. Otherwise, this belt will not only be occupied by anti-Chinese forces, but Pak-China friendship itself will be endangered, and the future of the Silk Route seriously threatened.
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