Pakistan scales up as top country on terrorism index in 2022 amid economic crisis

Afghanistan and Pakistan are among the top ten countries that have been impacted the most by terrorism in 2022, a Sydney-based Institute for Economics & Peace (IEP)'s recent Global Terrorism Index (GTI) revealed. Terrorism in Pakistan has significantly soared by a whopping 120 percent since 2021, the survey noted. Pakistan witnessed an estimated 643 terrorism-related fatalities, last year a 120 percent increase from 2021.

There has been a rise in the offensives by the ethnic-nationalist organisation– Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) and Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) among others that has turned into a leading cause of violence across neighbouring countries, according to GTI. Attacks by the global terrorist group Islamic State-Khorasan (ISK) have spiked since last year.

"Deaths by Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) doubled while Islamic State-Khorasan (ISK) increased sevenfold in Pakistan," ANI quoted the IEP's report.

Some groups like the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA)  have emerged due to the oppressive acts and political disparities in Pakistan, it said. Refusal to identify the ethnic minority rights has led the BLA to take up arms against the state in order to "fight for survival," the report suggests. The issue of terrorism is flaring in Pakistan coupled with an economic and political crisis that is expected to make the overall situation worse. 

Funds derived from cigarette smuggling and counterfeiting

Instances of violence and terrorism mainly concentrate along Pakistan's border with Afghanistan, as per the Institute for Economics & Peace (IEP)'s recent Global Terrorism Index (GTI). At least 63 percent of the total attacks emerging from these areas account for terrorism, and the related deaths have increased by 74 percent in 2022.

As American troops pulled out from neighbouring Afghanistan, and it fell to the Taliban, terrorism has been on the rise due to frequent reports of clashes and shootings. Pakistan's citizens are also increasingly brainwashed and face ideological issues that give rise to terror-related activities, IEP's report stressed, underlining the root cause. 

"Installing the Taliban in Kabul was the dream of the Pakistani political class which now soured into a bad idea. Instead of peace and prosperity, Islamabad is now facing terror attacks," according to ANI.

Most terrorist activities are funded by those stationed abroad, such as a Pakistani citizen named Saifullah Anjum Ranjha. The US-based man funded the network of drug trafficking, smuggling, cigarette counterfeiting and arms trafficking in Pakistan. He was convicted of money laundering and terrorist financing in 2008, as per the report. "15-20 percent of the budget of terrorist groups in Waziristan is derived from cigarette smuggling and counterfeiting," IEP quoted a source, who requested anonymity, as saying.

Cigarette smuggling is mainly a network run by Pakistani Taliban and Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) terrorist organizations. The latter unfolded deadly attacks in Mumbai in 2008 causing mounting civilian casualties. Other terrorist groups are also funded by the D-company which has links with Al-Qaeda and other terrorist groups that wreak havoc in India's state of Kashmir. Such terrorist networks are at forefront of "trafficking of drugs, arms and precious metals, prostitution, counterfeiting and extortion," according to the report. 

(With agency inputs)