ISLAMABAD: The National Internal Security Policy (NISP) 2018-2023 report released by the Ministry of interior has allotted religious terrorism the top spot in the list of terrorism types, a local media outlet reported on Sunday.
The policy report, released on May 31, highlights sectarian terrorism, ethno-political terrorism and sub-national terrorism as the other three forms of terrorism.
The policy reports states that a number of active terrorist groups in the country had a clear intent on imposing their interpretation of religion in the country in addition to supporting a system of global caliphate.
Many of the groups originally developed in Pakistan and remain active, though many other have been either eliminated or proscribed. The groups frequently target religious festivals, prominent personalities and places of worship of minority communities or other sects.
A mix of ethnic identity and politics caused violence along racial lines for political-economic gains with Karachi being the prime example. The NISP report calculated a total loss of $123 billion over the past five years due to terrorism, with KP and Balochistan suffering heavily. Close to 12,000 casualties occurred due to terrorist activities in the country between 2005-2012, with Punjab being the least violent of the provinces. However, death toll per each attack also caused the heaviest casualties in Punjab.
Balochistan was ranked fourth in the list in terms of extremism and violence due to ethnic conflict in the region while Gilgit-Baltistan was the most peaceful. For Azad Kashmir, most incidents of violence were caused by cross-border firings across the Line of Control (LOC).
The NISP report said that criminal justice reform is necessary to improve security climate but that reforms were not passed during the PML-N government’s tenure. In addition, the policy report recommended the formation of system for combating financing for terrorism.
Registration, regulation and legislation for madrassa reforms was another important element highlighted in the report.
