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.
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