Terrorist incidents sharply down in Pakistan

Islamabad, Sep 11 (IANS) Pakistan has witnessed a notable drop in terrorist activities in 2017, local media reported on Monday.

According to figures released by the National Counter Terrorism Authority (NACTA), the year has so far seen 426 terrorist incidents, compared to 785 attacks in 2016, NawaiWaqt said on Monday.

NACTA said that 110 terror incidents occurred in 2001, 56 in 2002, 88 in 2003, 159 in 2004 and 113 in 2005.

A total of 1,444 terror attacks were carried out in 2006, while 2007 witnessed a surge with 1,820 incidents, 2008 recorded 1,575 attacks, and 1,938 attacks occurred in 2009.

Terrorist incidents hit their peak in 2010 with 2,061 attacks. Some 1,680 attacks were launched in 2011, 1,316 in 2012, 1,571 in 2013 and 1,816 in 2014.

A decline was noticed in 2015 when only 1,139 activities were recorded, the authority said.

The drop in the terrorist attacks is being ascribed to the armed offensive "Operation Zarb-i-Azb" launched in the restive tribal areas of the country in mid-2014, it said.

Pakistan Army launched the operation to clear sanctuaries of local and foreign terrorists in the tribal areas of North Waziristan, which resulted in the drop in terror attacks.

The army also launched an operation in the Khyber Agency area in four phases between October 2014 and August 2017, to reinforce troops' deployment and effectively check terrorist movement along the high mountains and all-weather passes.

It also launched Operation Radd-ul-Fassad and the National Action Plan to hunt down militants and their sleeper cells in other parts of the country.