Pakistan’s major cities returning to a relative state of normalcy in recent years following years of terrorist violence is arguably the highlight of what has gone well in Pakistan this decade. The security gains felt by citizens on the ground are now being reflected internationally as well. But as with most things in life; looking at the rankings is a function of whether one sees the glass half full.
The release of Global Terrorism Index (GTI) 2017 earlier this week has generated some buzz. The report, prepared by the Sydney-based Institute for Economics and Peace, makes good use of a comprehensive global terrorism database maintained by the University of Maryland. So far as Pakistan is concerned, the GTI 2017 provides a mixed reading.
The good news is that the number of deaths due to terrorism since 2000 – about 15908, as per the report – has been coming down for three consecutive years in Pakistan.
“In 2016, there were 956 deaths from terrorism; the lowest number in a decade. This is a 12 percent decrease from the previous year and a 59 per cent decline from the peak in 2013… Since 2007, Pakistan has ranked as at least the fourth worst country for terrorism and on six occasions was ranked second,” the report noted.
What has made all the difference is the military going hard after the TTP – which has caused the most deaths by a known terrorist group in Pakistan – since mid 2014. Thanks to the focused kinetic campaign, Pakistan of 2017 now looks much different from the place it had become in 2007-13.
The horrors of militants unleashing death and destruction in public places, academic institutions, government buildings, and security installations are largely contained today. But the scale of the militant problem is still significant. The GTI report ranks Pakistan fifth among countries that were most impacted by terrorism in 2016.
That company is unenviable. Four of the top-five affected countries – Iraq, Afghanistan, Nigeria and Syria – are wracked by civil wars, mostly supported by rival factions of global and regional powers. As per the GTI report, Pakistan has been among the top ten terrorism-hit countries since 2002 – a distinction shared with Afghanistan and India. This region has historically seen hostile action, but the 9/11 event in the US exacerbated the turmoil here.
Pakistan still has work to do. The TTP has been weakened, but it still accounted for 30 percent of terrorism-related deaths in 2016, mainly through suicide bombings, as per the report. Additionally, as the state continues to use its full might against the TTP, other militant organisations are gaining traction. The report mentioned that the IS-Khorasan chapter was responsible for 16 percent of deaths while the LeJ accounted for 11 percent of fatalities.
Peace is coming to Pakistan, and with it the economy, especially retail economy is finding a helping hand. But Pakistan’s ethnic and sectarian divides are real and they require the country’s leadership to crack down on both the hard and soft infrastructures that fuel militancy. The country is carrying a massive youth bulge. Securing peace is paramount to creating more and better livelihood opportunities for them.