Over 400 dead in Pakistan as military intensifies operations in KP and Balochistan

Tufail Dawar, a resident of Mir Ali in Pakistan’s North Waziristan region, recounted a harrowing day on April 30 when he and his fellow villagers were trapped outside their homes by gunfire.

“We could not be outside all day as there was heavy gunfire between security forces and militants during a military operation in our village,” Dawar explained. One of his cousins ​​was injured in the crossfire and is currently being treated at a local hospital.

Residents of Pakistan’s restive tribal districts along the Afghan border and adjacent areas tell VOA Deewa that due to increasing military operations, many areas have been declared exclusion zones, limiting their daily mobility.

“Our village has been declared a containment zone by the security forces and no development work is taking place. There is no livelihood and many families have left the area due to military operations,” Maulana Naqibullah Khan told VOA Deewa over the phone.

Khan said locals had been negotiating with security forces over the past three months to secure the release of nearly 60 residents who had been arrested on allegations of providing food and medical treatment to the militants.

“The situation has worsened; we saw helicopter attacks in December 2023 and the deployment of security forces continues. Locals have suffered loss of property and people and we have held meetings, but it remains,” said Muhammad Amin, a village council member in Kadera, a community of 900 houses in northwestern Pakistan.

According to the Pakistani military, the army, police, intelligence agencies and other law enforcement agencies conduct more than 100 anti-terrorism operations every day in the country.

Maj. Gen. Ahmed Sharif, a Pakistan military spokesman, said during a live news conference on Tuesday that security forces had conducted 13,135 small and large intelligence operations against terrorists and their supporters so far this year, “in which 249 terrorists were dispatched.” to hell while 396 were arrested.”

VOA contacted Brigadier Ghazanfar, official at Pakistan’s military media wing Inter Services Public Relations, via WhatsApp and asked for further details on military operations in the region, but he did not respond.

Asif Durrani, Pakistan’s special representative for Afghanistan, said on Tuesday at a gathering organized by the Institute of Regional Studies that there has been a 60% increase in terrorist attacks in Pakistan since the Taliban came to power in Afghanistan in 2021.

Haq Nawaz, a Peshawar-based analyst, said Pakistan lacks a clear counter-terrorism strategy.

“Pakistan has adopted both dialogue and military operations strategy in the past, but terrorism is increasing in Pakistan and Pakistan’s military and political forces should work together to develop a new strategy,” he said.

The Center for Research and Securities Studies (CRSS), an Islamabad-based think tank that tracks terrorism in Pakistan, has said that deaths due to terrorism increased by 17% in the first quarter of 2024 compared to the corresponding period in 2023. has increased.

According to the report, 432 people were killed and 370 others were injured in 245 attacks and military operations in the first three months. A provincial breakdown is not yet available, but according to CRSS, 92% of the violence occurred in KP and Balochistan.

This story originated in VOA’s Deewa Service.