During the March - May 2011 quarter, a total of 216 incidents of political violence occurred across the country which affected 1,740 people of which 595 people were killed, 1,094 were injured and 51 were kidnapped. On average, seven people were killed, 12 were injured and one was reportedly kidnapped every day during this reporting period. In this quarter, 222 people died in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 160 in Sindh, 92 in Balochistan, 80 in Punjab, 40 in FATA and one in the ICT.
Of the total 1,740 victims across the country, 52 victims were directly affiliated with political parties in Pakistan. Mutahida Quami Movement(MQM) was the most targeted political party with 18 victims followed by Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) with 10 victims, Mutahidda Quami Movement Haqiqi (MQM-H) with eight victims Awami National Party (ANP) with six victims, Jamiat Ulama e Islam Fazl-ur-Rehman (JUI-F) with four victims, Sunni Tehreek (SnT) with two victims, and Jeay Sindh Quami Mahaz (JSQM), Balochistan National Party (BNP), Jamat e Islami (JI) and Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) each with one victim.
Sindh experienced the highest number of incidents of political violence, due to the increased incidents of target killings in Karachi. During this reporting period around 50% of political violence incidents were recorded in Sindh. Similar to findings in the previous quarter, Balochistan remained the second most violent region in terms of number of incidents (66 incidents), followed by Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (28 incidents), FATA (seven incidents), Punjab (four incidents) and Gilgit/Baltistan and the ICT (one incident each). Although the number of politically violent incidents was low in Punjab, KP and FATA, the lethality rate was higher than that reported in the regions of Sindh and Balochistan.
Target killing had been the most frequently reported category of violence during the previous quarter, and remained so with 56 recorded cases during March-May 2011. Attacks on political party candidate/worker and attacks on state security forces followed, with 53 and 23 cases respectively. Apart from the targeted victims, 270 people became victims in collateral damage in attacks on state security forces and 24 in attacks on political party candidate/worker. However no victim of collateral damage was reported in the incidents of target killings.
During the March-May 2011 reporting period, 186 out of the total 216 incidents of political violence involved human victims, 20 caused damage to property, whereas in eight incidents, both life and property were harmed. In two incidents it was unclear if life, property, or both, were harmed.
As many as 28 (13%) of the total 216 incidents of violence were perpetrated by militants during this period. One incident was carried out by tribal/village leader while the perpetrators of the remaining 186 incidents (86%) could not be identified.
The most used tactics and methods of causing political violence remained gun/firearm in 148 incidents of political violence followed by incendiary devices in 51 incidents of violence, suicide bombing in 12 incidents of violence and arson in two incidents of violence. However in three incidents of political violence the tactic used could not be established.
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About FAFEN: FAFEN is a network of 42 civil society organizations working to foster democratic accountabilities in Pakistan. It is governed by the Trust for Democratic Education and Accountability.
Source: FAFEN
