PESHAWAR: Incidents of terrorism across Khyber Pakhtunkhwa have dropped by 64 per cent during the first quarter of ongoing year compared to the corresponding period of last year, reveals KP Militancy Report 2015, compiled by the Strategy and Analysis Wing of provincial home department.

The report for the first quarter of 2015 – January to March – shows a considerable improvement in terrorism and general crime situation. It said that targeted killings have dropped by 47 per cent, robberies by 3 per cent, kidnapping by 41 per cent and car snatching by 12 per cent. It claimed that extortion cases had come down by a whopping 77 per cent.

The Peshawar district, however, remains on top of terrorism, murder and kidnapping incidents and targeted killings, the document noted.

Mapping the real situation, it notes that 293 terrorism incidents took place during the first quarter of 2014, while the number dropped to 107 during the current year. Similarly, targeted killings dropped to 24 from 45, robberies to 32 from 33, kidnapping cases from 54 to 32, car snatching to 14 from 16, extortion to 13 from 81, the report says.

Targeted killings drop by 47pc in first quarter of 2015 compared to 2014

The number of suicide attacks has come down by 83 per cent, roadside bombings dropped by 79 per cent, mortar attacks by 80 per cent, firing by 25 per cent and hand grenade attacks by 66 per cent.

However, the ratio of murders remained the same for the period under review of both the years. Also, significant improvement was noted in case of civilian and law enforcement agencies’ casualties that have dropped by 81 and 77 per cent, respectively. The LEAs casualties dropped to 46 from 197 a year ago, while civilian casualties dropped from 544 to 103 during the period under review.

The report, however, said that the number of light arms’ attacks and targeted killings is on the rise, while IEDs, suicide attacks and hand grenade incidents have shown downward trend.

The report notes that since Sept 2014 a constant downward trend was visible which reflected success of the ongoing operations in the tribal regions and settled areas of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

The breakdown of crime data at divisional level across the province shows that the number of terrorism incidents dropped to 44 from 136 a year ago in Peshawar, nine from 20 in Mardan, nine from 36 in Kohat, seven from eight in Hazara, 21 from 46 in Dera Ismail Khan and eight from 38 in Bannu. However, the number of such incidents remained the same at nine in Malakand.

The analysis shows that Peshawar, Bannu and Kohat divisions have shown improved outlook, while the situation in Dera Ismail Khan seems to be deteriorating.

Comparison of the incidents of targeted killings in divisions shows the figures for seven divisions dropped to 24 from 45 a year ago, while kidnapping cases dropped to 32 from 54. However, the number of murders comes down to 180 from 181.

DISTRICT SCENARIO: Peshawar was the hotspot district and witnessed 34 terrorism incidents during first quarter of 2015, followed by Dera and Bannu with 16 and eight incidents, respectively. Peshawar district is also on top with seven incidents of targeted killing, followed by Dera and Mansehra with six and four incidents, respectively.

Peshawar stood at the top of kidnapping hotspot districts with six incidents during the period followed by Nowshera and Charsadda with four incidents each. Nowshera topped robbery hotspot districts with 10 robbery cases, while Mardan followed with six and Peshawar with four.

Peshawar topped the murder hotspot districts with 43 murders during the first quarter of the year, while Mardan and Charsadda trailed behind with 21 and 18 murders during the same period.

Comparison of LEAs’ achievements shows that 209 militants were arrested during first quarter of 2015 compared to 60 a year ago, 58 IED attacks foiled against 79 last year, 57 arms recovered against 45 last year, 16 criminals killed against 15, 27 drug recoveries against 16 last year and 10 abduction recoveries compared to 12 a year ago.

Published in Dawn, July 3rd, 2015

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