Explosive weapons taking too high a toll

Business Recorder

26-05-2025

EDITORIAL: Although our internal security situation has improved considerably relative to the years between 2008 and 2013 when a blast wounded or killed at least five people every day, Pakistan continues to be wracked by violence. As per a recent report put out by UK-based NGO, Action on Armed Violence (AOAV), Pakistan was the seventh most affected country for civilians harmed by explosive weapons in 2024, with 790 civilian casualties and 210 killings recorded across 248 incidents.
This was a nine percent decrease from the previous year, but an eleven percent increase in incidents compared to 2018, placing Pakistan at 7th position among 15 countries and territories severely impacted by explosive weapons; that gloomy list topped by the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza followed by external attacks or civil war in other countries, such as Lebanon, Syria, Sudan, Ukraine and Myanmar.
Overall, notes the AOAV report, 2024 saw the highest number of recorded incidents in Pakistan since 2014, and the second highest number of civilian casualties since 2018. The provinces of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) and Balochistan were worst affected, accounting for 94 percent of all fatalities and 89 percent of all incidents nationwide.
In KP, areas such as North Waziristan and Kurram bordering Afghanistan witnessed intensified insurgent activities, whilst Balochistan experienced a 90 percent rise in violence compared to 2023. Notably, for a while the TTP terrorists and Baloch insurgent groups, in particular Indian-back Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA), are said to have made a nexus against the state.
Frequently acting in coordination, they have been targeting not only the security forces but also the police and ordinary civilians, using arms and munitions acquired from Afghanistan as well as homemade improvised explosive devices (IEDs). And whereas in the past only religious extremists, such as the TTP and IS-K, carried out suicide bombings causing massive casualties, Bloch insurgent outfit BLA-affiliated suicide squad called the Majeed Brigade has been involved in several high profile attacks, specifically on Chinese interests. Pakistan now has the highest rate of IED and suicide bombings claiming civilian lives. Just last Wednesday, a suicide car bombing on a school bus in Khuzdar killed nine people, six of them children, and wounded 40 others.
The situation calls for a comprehensive strategy to combat terrorism in its different forms. As mentioned earlier, one of the major problems is both munitions and militants coming from Afghanistan. There is some positive news on that front.
Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar upon his return from a three-day visit to China told journalists at a presser on Thursday that during tripartite meetings a clear agreement was reached with both Beijing and Kabul that no terrorist organisation, whether the banned TTP, BLA or any other groups would be allowed to use any country's — Afghanistan's to be sure — against another. Hopefully, we can count on this agreement.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2025