Current Security situation not worse than 2008, 2013 & 2018 elections: PICSS Report

ISLAMABAD, Feb 26 (SABAH): The security situation in the country is not as worse as it was during the 2008 and 2013 general elections while not much different from 2018 reveals data compiled by an Islamabad-based independent think tank Pakistan Institute for Conflict and Security Studies (PICSS).

In 2008, the elections were held on February 18. The security situation was very bleak at that time as former Prime Minister Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto was killed just two months before the elections on December 27, 2007, in Rawalpindi. In October 2007, more than 180 people were killed in Karachi when a blast took place in a PPP rally which was held to welcome Benazir Bhutto. The year 2007 also witnessed the Red Mosque operation in July. Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) was also formed just two months before the general elections (December 2007).

According to statistical data from Pakistan Institute for Conflict and Security Studies (PICSS), 639 terror attacks took place in 2007 in which 1940 people were killed and 2807 were injured. According to the PICSS database, the month of January 2008 witnessed 459 deaths in 39 attacks, the majority of them in KP and the erstwhile FATA region. During 2022, Pakistan faced 380 militant attacks in which 539 people were killed and 836 injured. That means there was a 72 percent reduction in deaths and a 70 percent decline in the number of injured in 2022 compared with 2007. The number of deaths in January 2008 (preceding months of general elections) alone was more than the whole year of 2022.

In 2013 general elections were held on May 11. According to PICSS Militancy Database, the four preceding months before May 2013 witnessed 366 terror attacks in the country in which 1120 people were killed and 2151 injured. That means those four months witnessed 52 percent more deaths and 61 percent more injured than the whole year of 2022. PICSS data shows that political parties were the major targets of terrorists during the elections campaign of 2013. According to a PICSS report, “The militants killed at least 119 people and left more than 438 others injured in some 59 attacks on different candidates, elections offices, rallies and public meetings of different political parties, polling stations and office of election commission during 60 days long election process, starting from 21st of March to 20th of May, 2013”. ANP, PPP, MQM and independent candidates were the main target of terrorists during the 2013 election campaign.

There is no doubt that terrorist attacks increased by around 32 percent during 2022 compared with 2021 however, the situation is much better than in 2008 and 2013. Pakistani security forces are also better trained and equipped than they were in 2008 and 2013. If terror trends of 2022 are compared with 2018 then more people were killed in terror attacks in 2018 than in 2022 as 579 people were killed and 960 injured in 2018 compared with 539 killed and 836 injured in 2022.