Pakistan has overtaken Afghanistan as the country with the most terrorist attacks and death in South Asia, The annual Global Terrorism Index report released by the Australia-based Institute for Economics and Peace stated. It is the 10th edition.
Pakistan recorded the second largest surge in terror-related deaths worldwide last year, the toll increasing significantly to 643.
The number of deaths in Pakistan represented the largest year-on- year increase in the last decade.
At least 55% of all terror-related victims were military personnel.
It has moved up four places the index due to sharp surge in fatalities, the report stated.
The Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) was responsible for 36% of terror-related deaths in Pakistan, which is nine-fold
increase from the previous year.
According to the report, the BLA has overtaken the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) also known as Pakistan Taliban as the
deadliest terror group in Pakistan.
The BLA’s lethality rate has increased to its highest level with attacks killing 7.7 people per attack in 2022, as compared to 1.5 per attack the previous year. Out of the 233 deaths linked to BLA in 2022, 95% were of military personnel. The BLA is claiming to be fighting for the independence of the Balochistan province bordering Afghanistan and Iran. Pakistan, United States and UK have designated both the BLA and TTP as terror organisations.
According to the report, the deadliest attack attributed to the BLA in 2022 occurred when its gunmen bombed and shot at two separate security posts for the Frontier Corps in Pakistan in February last year.
Although no official death toll was confirmed, the BLA claimed that they were responsible for the attacks and that they had killed 195 soldiers across both attacks.
The report highlights the D-Company’s transformation to a terror outfit coincides with its entry into the counterfeit trade. The criminal outfit led by fugitive don Dawood Ibrahim now controls the bulk of the black market for counterfeit cultural products in Mumbai. It also pointed out that D-Company draws its profit from trafficking drugs, arms, and precious metals, prostitution, counterfeiting, and extortion.
