ISLAMABAD: The country has witnessed almost the same number of major terror incidents this year so far, compared to the previous year of 2019, with terrorists limiting their attacks to the tribal districts and the restive Balochistan.

According to data collected by Business Recorder from various independent sources, the ongoing year of 2020 has witnessed a total of 41 major incidents so far, while 40 incidents were registered during the same period last year, 2019.

The data reveled that majority of the incidents took place in tribal belt of the country, bordering Afghanistan and the restive Balochistan.

During 2020, till Sep 24, two major incidents were reported in Jan, six in Feb, two in March, seven in April, five in May, four in June, nine in July, two in Aug, and four in the current month. Whereas 2019, witnessed four incidents in Jan, three in Feb, five in March, four in April, nine in May, three in June, seven in July, five each in Aug and Sep.

This trend in terrorist incidents shows that terrorist elements have not been completely eliminated in the bordering areas along Afghanistan with fencing the porous border to prevent the cross border terrorist infiltration still ongoing. Sources said terrorists continue to launch attacks from across the border by targeting the security forces as well as civilian population in the tribal belt, an issue that has been repeatedly taken up with the Afghan government. Nearly 1,700km of the total 2,600km Pakistan-Afghanistan border has been fenced.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2020