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Introduction
The conflict in North Waziristan
Balochistan
Sectarian and religious conflict
Kashmir
Sources
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The Islamic Republic of Pakistan was created in 1947, out of the partition of the Indian sub-continent, and has been divided by border and internal conflicts ever since.
Pakistan’s role on the international scene shifted after the September 2001 attack on the US, when when it withdrew its support for the Taliban and became seen as a potential partner of NATO and the US in fighting the Taliban and associated insurgents. In turn, the security situation in the country further deteriorated with sectarian violence and attacks by insurgents as US drone strikes in tribal regions bordering Afghanistan intensified.
Pakistan is bordered by Iran and Afghanistan in the west, India in the east and China in the northeast and is administratively divided into four provinces (Punjab, Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Baluchistan), the federal capital of Islamabad and seven Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA). In addition, Pakistan administers part of the disputed territory of Kashmir.
Pakistan used to be comprised of two parts - the east which became Bangladesh in 1971 - and the west - which is present-day Pakistan.
According to the Report of the Secretary-General to the Security Council on Children and Armed Conflict, issued in May 2013, covering the period from January to December 2012:
- 91 children were reported killed and 137 injured in the course of indiscriminate attacks on public places;
- The recruitment, training and use of child suicide bombers by the Taliban remains a concern;
- No exact figures are available on the number of children currently in detention under security regulations but the government reported that 1,150 boys had passed through ‘de-radicalisation and skills development programmes’ and by the end of 2012, 40 children were still held in a rehabilitation and reintegration centre for children for alleged association with armed groups;
- 118 schools were reported damaged or destroyed.
Refugees
According to the UN Refugee agency, Pakistan currently hosts some 1.6 million registered Afghan refugees, the largest protracted refugee situation globally and over one million people are internally displaced.
Attacks on Schools
The Global Coalition to Protect Education from Attack reported more than 838 attacks on schools in Pakistan during 2009-2012. Militants recruited children from schools and madrassas, including the use of some as suicide bombers. More than 30 children were killed in attacks on schools and school transport during the same period. At least 138 school students and staff were reported to have been kidnapped. In certain areas, the Taliban prevent girls from going to school. Acid attacks - throwing acid at the face of women and girls - is one of the means the Taliban use to deter girls from going to school, scaring them for life and preventing others from following in their footsteps.
The conflict in North Waziristan
A violent conflict erupted in the Waziristan district of the Tribal Areas which borders Afghanistan between 2001 and 2007 between local tribes and members of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU). Members of the IMU had fled Afghanistan in 2001 to escape US military operations, taking refuge in North Waziristan.
Pakistan dropped its support for the Taliban regime in Afghanistan after the 11 September 2001 attacks on the US, becoming an ally of Washington. It provided logistical and intelligence support to NATO forces in Afghanistan, while fighting the pro-Taliban armed groups in the tribal areas of the country.
However, Pakistani forces have struggled to maintain control in the region, where Taliban-linked militants became firmly entrenched. These Sunni extremists have more recently expanded attacks to target minority groups elsewhere in the country, in particular Shia Muslims and Christians.
The US and NATO have adopted a strategy of pre-emptive strikes and drone attacks in the tribal areas of Pakistan, further escalating the conflict between the people in the tribal areas and the government of Pakistan, and increasing the hostility of local people towards the West. The Bureau of Investigative Journalism reports 383 CIA drone strikes between 2004 and 2014, killing between 416 and 957 civilians, 168 to 202 of them were children and between 1089 and 1639 injured. Read a piece on the US use of drones and its impact on children.
Pakistan has been accused of continuing strong links with the Taliban. In 2010, a report by the London School of Economics reported that Pakistan's intelligence service had a direct link with the Taliban in Afghanistan, claiming Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence agency (ISI) had an "official policy" of support for the Taliban.
Pakistan repeatedly denied US and Afghan allegations that senior al-Qaeda and Taliban leaders were present in the border areas, or that its intelligence service even had links to Afghan armed groups. So the death in May 2011 of al-Qaeda chief Osama Bin-Laden in a US raid on Abbottabad, a city in the heart of Pakistan's military establishment, stretched relations with the US to breaking point.
The province of Balochistan, near the border with Iran and southern Afghanistan is home to a separatist movement, causing an internal armed conflict from 1973 to 1977, resuming in 2004. Militancy in Balochistan has been fuelled by ethnic Baloch anger over the Pakistani government’s efforts to harness local resources and maintain large numbers of troops in the province.
This internal war has created opposition between the Pakistani army, the BLA (Balochistan Liberation Army), BRA (Balochistan Republican Army) and Baluch Ittihad (Baloch Unity). Baloch nationalists are regularly ‘disappeared’ by the Pakistani military, while in 2009 there was an increase in assassinations of non-Baloch inhabitants by Baloch nationalists.
The war in Balochistan is sometimes referred to as Pakistan’s secret war because the atrocities committed by both security forces and armed groups remain out of the headlines and unknown even inside the country. Since 2005, Pakistani human rights organisations have recorded numerous serious human rights violations by security forces in Balochistan, including extrajudicial executions, torture, enforced disappearances, forced displacement, and excessive use of force. Armed militant groups in Balochistan are responsible for many targeted killings and destroying private property. In the past several years, they have increasingly targeted non-Baloch civilians and their businesses, as well as major gas installations and infrastructure.
Sectarian and religious conflict
While Punjabis represent the majority of the population, Pakistan is home to a constellation of communities based on regional, religious, or historical identities. Sectarian and religious violence have been a recurrent feature of Pakistan’s history since 1947, both in the form of violent conflict between religious communities, and in the form of one-sided violence against religious minorities.
Sectarian conflict further escalated after the Taliban victory in Afghanistan, as a pattern of assassinations of sect leaders and activists emerged. After 1997, mass killings of civilians on a sectarian basis became more frequent.
According to Human Rights Watch, “Sunni militant groups such as the ostensibly banned Lashkar-e Jhangvi (LEJ), an Al-Qaeda affiliate, operate with virtual impunity across Pakistan, as law enforcement officials either turn a blind eye or appear helpless to prevent attacks. In 2013, over 400 members of the Shia Muslim population were killed in targeted attacks that took place across Pakistan.”
The dispute over Kashmir has endured for more than six decades and has cost the lives of roughly 13,000 Indians and Pakistanis between 1971 and 2008, while the insurgency and military operations have claimed over 30,000 lives since 1989.
In 1947, the Maharaja of Kashmir put Jammu and Kashmir under Indian control in a temporary agreement with the departing colonial British regime. This was supposed to be temporary until a plebiscite is conducted to enable the people of Kashmir to choose who between Pakistan and India would rule them. The plebiscite was not conducted and a war between Pakistan and India over the control of the mainly Muslim populated region of Jammu and Kashmir continued until 1948 when India requested the involvement of the UN Security Council (UNSC).
The UNSC passed a resolution that called on Pakistan to withdraw all military presence and to conduct the plebiscite. The resolution also imposed an immediate ceasefire.
The ceasefire was enacted on 31 December 1948, but Pakistan did not withdraw its troops from the region and the plebiscite was still not conducted, provoking increasing unrest in the region.
The war broke out again in 1965 and 1971 before the two countries signed a peace agreement in 1971 that defined the Line of Control separating the Pakistani administered Kashmir and Indian administered Kashmir. But it was not before a second ceasefire was signed in 2003 that the daily shelling across the border calmed down.
The long years of conflict increased opposition movements inside Kashmir. Some of those opposition movements passed into the hands of religious extremists, making them unpopular - especially after the 11 September 2001 attacks on the US. In recent years, India tightened border control and Pakistan reduced its financial support to insurgents. As a result, the different militant groups found their memberships and influence reduced.
In mid-1999, Pakistani soldiers and Kashmiri militants infiltrated into positions on the Indian side of the Line of Control, resulting in a high-scale conflict between India and Pakistan. International fears that the conflict could turn nuclear led to the involvement of the US pressurising Pakistan to retreat.
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Insight on Conflict, Pakistan Country Profile.
Insight on Conflict, Kashmir Country Profile.
BBC, Pakistan Country Profile.
Report of the Secretary-General to the Security Council on Children and Armed Conflict.
The Global Coalition to Protect Education from Attack, Pakistan Country Profile
The Bureau of Investigative Journalism, Drone strikes in Pakistan.
Amnesty International, Pakistan: Will I Be Next?" Us Drone Strikes In Pakistan.
Human Rights Watch, Annual Report 2014, Pakistan
Human Rights Watch, “We Can Torture, Kill, or Keep You for Years”