ConflictBarometer_2015

ASIA AND OCEANIA
PPP members were killed in a targeted attack. Throughout August,
three MQM members were killed in Karachi, with MQM
parliamentary leader Rashid Godil together with one relative
being injured and a civilian being killed. In September, at
least one PPP and four MQM members were killed and several
suspects, including MQM activists, were arrested in Karachi.
On October 29, members of PPP and MQM clashed using
clubs and bricks in the city Sukkur, Sindh, leaving at least
two people injured. Two days later, one MQM member was
shot dead in Gulshan-e-Iqbal Town, Karachi. On November
13, two attacks with explosives took place in Lyari. The first
targeted a PPP election office, while the second left at least
six PPP members injured.
As a part of the government's intervention efforts, ''Operation
Karachi'' had been launched in September 2013 ''to
fight terrorist and criminal activities'' in the area. On March
11, Sindh Rangers raided the ''Nine-Zero'' headquarters of
the MQM in Karachi. One MQM member was killed and four
high-profile functionaries arrested. In April, Sindh Rangers
shot dead three allegedly hired gunmen with ties to MQM. On
July 17, Sindh Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah extended
the Sindh Rangers' stationing by one year. According to the
Rangers' spokesperson, the paramilitary unit killed at least
350 ''terrorists'' and arrested over 10,000 suspects since the
start of the operation until July 8. aho
PAKISTAN (INTER-ISLAMIST RIVALRY)
Intensity: 3 | Change: | Start: 2010
Conflict parties:
Conflict items:
TTP vs. LI vs. TNSM vs. AMNAM
system/ideology, subnational predominance
The violent crisis over ideology and subnational predominance
in Pakistan's northwest between the Islamist militant
groups Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), Tehreek-e-Nafaz-e-
Shariat-e-Mohammadi (TNSM), and Amr bil Maroof wa Nahi
Anil Munkar (AMNAM) continued.
However, in the course of the year, several Islamist groups
also allied with the TTP. On March 12, leaders of Jamaat-ul-
Ahrar (JuA) led by Khalid Khorasani and the militant group
Lashkar-e-Islam (LI) led by Mangal Bagh pledged allegiance
to TTP in Peshawar, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. JuA had
been formed in 2014 after several factions had seceded from
the TTP due to internal disagreements [→ Pakistan (Islamist
militant groups)]. According to TTP's spokesperson Muhammad
Khurasani, three outfits, namely Qari Ihsan Group, Shikari
Group, and Abdus Samad Group united with the TTP in South
Waziristan Agency, Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA)
on May 6. The groups promised to abide by the central command
of TTP's leader Mullah Fazlullah.
Throughout the year, at least seven people were killed and
three were injured in clashes between militant groups. On
April 6, militants shot dead two members of TTP in Kurram
Agency, FATA. One week later, a clash between AMNAM and LI
members in Khyber Agency, FATA, left five militants dead and
three injured. Among the dead were LI commander Shahmat
Khan and two AMNAM commanders.
In May, the imprisoned leader of TNSM, Maulana Sufi Mohammad,
issued an informal decree challenging the Muslim
denomination of TTP members for not fulfilling the ''Prophet's
definition.'' Furthermore, he advised his supporters to boycott
the group. The statement was written on 12/20/14,
shortly after an Army Public School in Peshawar had been attacked
by TTP militants [→ Pakistan (Islamist militant groups)].
sma
PAKISTAN (ISLAMIST MILITANT GROUPS)
Intensity: 5 | Change: | Start: 2001
Conflict parties:
Conflict items:
TTP, LI, al-Qaeda, Haqqani Network
vs. government
system/ideology, national power
The war over national power and the orientation of the
political system between various Islamist militant groups
such as al-Qaeda, Lashkar-e-Islam (LI), the Haqqani Network,
and, most prominently, the Tehrik-e-Taliban (TTP), on the one
hand, and the government, supported by the USA, on the
other, continued. On March 14, LI announced to join the TTP
[→ Pakistan (inter-Islamist violence)]. By August, the Islamist
Movement of Uzbekistan's leader Usmon Ghazi had taken
an oath of allegiance to the so-called Islamic State [→ Syria,
Iraq et al. (IS)]. No attacks by the group were reported in
2015 in Pakistan. The conflict claimed the lives of at least
3,000 people, with US-operated drone-strikes killing at least
60 militants of various networks, for example of the TTP and
al-Qaeda, in North and South Waziristan Agency, Federally
Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) [→ USA Pakistan]. As of
July, the number of IDPs figured up to more than 1.5 million.
The heaviest clashes between security forces and militants
occurred in FATA, albeit the number of attacks in other
provinces increased. Militants mainly targeted key army
and police installations. For example, on September 18, 14
TTP militants with automatic rifles and light weapons such
as RPGs stormed into a Pakistan Air Force (PAF) camp in
Peshawar, Khyber Pakhtunkwa (KP), killing 23 PAF members,
three army personnel, and three civilians. All attackers were
killed. Militants also targeted politicians. For example, on
May 31, three TTP militants killed PLM-N party member Rana
Shamshad and two civilians in Gujranwala, Punjab state. On
August 16, alleged LI militants conducted a suicide attack on
Punjab Home Minister Shuja Khanzada at his political office
in Attock district, Punjab, killing him and 16 others.
Throughout the year, various militant groups, most prominently
TTP, conducted at least 20 attacks on polio health
workers mainly in remote areas of KP and FATA as well as
Karachi, Sindh province. For example, on February 17, a
health worker and three other people were found dead in
Balochistan province after having been abducted four days
earlier. A month later, three people, among them two health
workers, were shot dead in Mansehra city, KP. Since 2012, Islamist
militant groups targeted polio workers, accusing them
of being spies and sickening and sterilizing locals through
vaccinations.
On January 6, the two legislative houses of Pakistan passed
the 21st constitutional amendment and an amendment to
the Pakistan Army Act, setting up speedy-trial military courts
for two years and extending their jurisdiction to terrorismrelated
offences. The measure was part of a national action
plan to combat terrorism, which had been initiated by the
government after the December 2014 attack on the Army
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