Pakistan remains a land ravaged by violence

More than 10,000 people were killed and another 10,000 were injured in political violence in Pakistan last year, according to figures released by the Pak Institute for Peace Studies. These figures include deaths and injuries as a result of insurgent and terrorist attacks, security force operations, drone strikes, inter-tribal attacks and cross-broder attacks.

They also confirm that Pakistan remains one of the most dangerous countries in the world, despite a fall in incidents since the previous year.
The worst affected areas were Baluchistan (737 attacks) and the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (720 attacks), followed by Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (459 attacks).
Overall, violent incidents decreased in 2010 for the first time since 2007. Fatalities also fell from 12,623 in 2009 to 10,003 in 2010, while injuries fell by a similar proportion. Suicide attacks fell from 87 in 2009 to 68 in 2010, almost half of which occurred in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa. Deaths resulting from US drone attacks rose by 165 per cent in 2010 to 961, most of which occurred in North Waziristan.
The number of terrorist attacks throughout Pakistan decreased by 21 per cent compared to 2009, although attacks by militants in FATA increased by 28 per cent and fatalities from such attacks in the tribal areas increased by 40 per cent and injuries by 37 per cent. While law enforcement personnel were the target of 105 attacks in 2009, this figure rose to 144 attacks in 2010. Attacks on political leaders rose from 7 in 2009 to 34 in 2010.
The number of civilians killed in 2010 was 3,570 in 2010, compared to 3,476 in 209, but security personnel deaths fell by half from 2,515 in 2009 to 1,211 in 2010.