Pakistani internal security (catch all)

[davidbfpo]

From an IISS Strategic Comment on Pakistan, which takes an optimistic viewpoint and on internal security:

Security improved across the country in 2015. Under Operation Zarb-e-Azb, the Pakistani military has nearly completed its operations in the tribal areas bordering Afghanistan, in particular North Waziristan and Khyber Agencies, with displaced people beginning to return home. A high-level committee chaired by Sartaj Aziz, Pakistan's de factoforeign minister, has produced recommendations for the tribal areas – traditionally governed under antiquated arrangements dating from the British colonial era – that would gradually move them into the Pakistani political mainstream. The attack on the Army Public School in Peshawar at the end of 2014 led to a near national consensus on the need to tackle terrorism. Concerted counter-terrorism operations across the country have yielded impressive results. Pakistan Institute for Peace Studies' statistics indicate a 48% fall in terrorist-related attacks in 2015 compared to the year before and a 38% fall in the number of deaths. The deployment of paramilitary Rangers has also ameliorated the security situation in Karachi, Pakistan's business capital. To be sure, there have been major terrorist attacks this year, including a bomb targeting Christians in Lahore on Easter Sunday. Furthermore, groups posing transnational threats to India and Afghanistan have continued to operate from Pakistan. But the overall level of violence has been lower.

Note a full copy of the Comment is behind a paywall:http://www.iiss.org/en/publications/.../pakistan-e44d

The cited Pakistan Institute website has nothing readily found with the cited statistics:http://pakpips.com/index.php