Security report claims IS footprint ‘on rise’ in Pakistan

ISLAMABAD: Militant group Islamic State (IS) is continually on the rise in Sindh and Balochistan, as claimed in a security report, ‘Pakistan Security Report 2017’, released by the Pakistan Institute for Peace Studies (PIPS).

The report also claims that despite a 16 per cent decline in terrorist attacks last year, Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and its associated groups remained the strongest threat, followed by Balochistan Liberation Army and Balochistan Liberation Front.

The report said that such realities required concerted efforts and a revision of the National Action Plan. According to the report, militant, nationalist/insurgent and violent sectarian groups carried out 370 terrorist attacks in 64 districts of the country in 2017. 815 people died and around 1,736 were injured due to these attacks. There was, however, a decrease of 16 per cent in such attacks over the previous year whereas the number of people killed decreased by a 10 per cent.

As many as 213, or 58 per cent of these attacks were executed by the TTP, its splinter groups, mainly Jamaatul Ahrar, and other militant groups. 186 people were killed in these attacks.

National insurgent groups, mostly in Balochistan, were responsible for around 138 attacks, or 37 per cent of the total, killing 140 people. As many as 19 terrorist attacks were sectarian-related, in which 71 people were killed and 97 injured.

As compared to the figures of 2016, across the border attacks in the country increased by a daunting 131 per cent, according to the report. 188 lives were lost and around 348 people were injured as a result of these attacks.

Security forces and law enforcement agencies killed a total of 524 militants in 2017 — compared to 809 in 2016.

National Security Adviser (r) Lt Gen Nasser Khan Janjua, in the report, reveals that a ‘national security policy’ has been documented and circulated internally in the government.

Another interview with the National Coordinator of National Counter Terrorism Authority (NACTA) Ihsan Ghani revealed that a new NISP policy, as well as a counter-extremism policy, will be announced this year.