Islamabad: As many as 357 incidents of political violence claiming 702 lives were reported from across the country between September and November 2010. Sindh was categorised as the most violent region in terms of causalities as 191 people lost their lives in incidents of violence.
Furthermore, due to increased incidents of target killings in Karachi, Sindh experienced the highest number of incidents of political violence. According to FAFEN’s violence monitor released here on Friday, out of the total 357 incidents of political violence that FAFEN recorded from across Pakistan, 159 (44%) incidents were reported solely from Sindh. Balochistan experienced 113 incidents, followed by Khyber-Pakhtoonkhwa (KP) (41), Federally Administrated Tribal Areas (23), the Punjab (13), Gilgit-Baltistan (7) and the Islamabad Capital Territory (1).
Sindh has been categorised as the most violent region in terms of causalities where 191 people lost their lives in incidents of violence, followed by Balochistan (168), Fata (151), KP (144), Punjab (42), the ICT (5) and GB (1). Although, the number of politically violent incidents was low in KP and Fata, the lethality rate, or number of deaths per incident, was higher than that reported in the regions of Balochistan and Sindh. All the identified victims of these incidents were male.
On an average, seven people were killed in Fata in each reported incident of violence, and a similar number was killed in every two incidents reported to have taken place in KP. In the Punjab, on an average, one incident claimed three lives, while six lives were lost in every five violent incidents in Sindh. Five people were killed in the only incident reported in the ICT. Overall, on an average, every violent incident, recorded during this quarter, claimed two human lives across Pakistan.
Target killings remained the most frequently reported category of violence with 101 such incidents from across the country. Attacks on state security forces and violence against political party workers remained second and third among the most frequently reported categories of violence, respectively. State security forces were attacked in 39 incidents nationwide, while political party workers were targeted in 38 cases.
The report stated during the September-November period, out of 357 incidents of political violence, as many as 290 involved entirely human victims, in 54 damage to property was reported whereas in 13 victims were both human and property. In 162 of the total 357 incidents, victims were identified as community members.
Source: The News
Date:2/12/2011
