ISLAMABAD – The operational and political policies Pakistan has adoptedagainst terrorists and terror infrastructure are giving dividends in theform of less terror related incidents, a Pakistani expert has said.
Imtiaz Gul, the executive director of the Islamabad-based Center forResearch and Security Studies (CRSS), made the remarks in a recentinterview wit Xinhua.
“The declining incidents of terrorism will have medium to long termadvantages for Pakistan besides propagating a positive image all over theworld as a peaceful and progressive country,” Gul said.
The statistics released by the CRSS show that the number of terroristattacks in the year of 2019 decreased by around 7.5 percent as compared tothe previous year, and the number of people killed in these attacksplummeted by 29.9 percent.
And according to the latest available statistics of the National CounterTerrorism Authority (NACTA), the number of terrorist attacks in Pakistandecreased by 21 percent in 2018 as compared to year 2017. The figures fromNACTA showed that a total of 517 people were killed in terrorist incidentsin 2018 whereas 668 were killed in 2017.
Admiring all-out efforts made by security forces and political leaders incountering terrorism, the expert said there is determination, clearintention and conscious decision not to allow any extremist groups todisrupt the peace, and the vigorous and focused pre-emptive strategiesundertaken by Pakistani intelligence agencies have profoundly helped incurbing terror incidents.
Noting that terrorism had badly affected the tourism industry of Pakistanas well as the flow of foreign direct inflow into the country, Gul said,”Less incidents of terrorism recently have a very positive impact on thelives of people as it has given them the much-needed sense of security …now the country is on the path of peace and prosperity with growingsocio-economic activities.”
Read Top Stories
In a separate interview with Xinhua, Muhammad Amir Rana, director of thePak Institute for Peace Studies, said that if Pakistan can sustain thecurrent level of security and improve it further, it will entail not onlyeconomic recovery but also a shift in social processes of change fromnegative to positive.
“Terrorism has affected Pakistan and its people in a number of ways. Otherthan sacrificing thousands of lives of civilians and security personnel,Pakistan has paid a huge sociocultural cost in the entire course ofterrorism and its counter-terrorism campaigns,” he said.
Now the situation is reversing day by day with growing economic and socialopportunities for the people of Pakistan, Rana said.
He said the government and the security institutions need to furtherconsolidate their efforts against terrorism and militancy as the threat ofterrorism has not been completely eliminated.
