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Terrorism’s decreasing numbers
[DAWN] NUMBERS, like words, tell stories. In recent years, the stories told by the numbers of Pakistain have mostly been sad ones that have largely to do with death. Collectively, they enumerate deaths from disease, deaths in childbirth, deaths at the hands of loved ones and the country’s security/state apparatus. Meanwhile,...back at the barn, Bossy's udder had begun to ache... the numbers of deaths from terrorist attacks have been responsible for the state of the most bereft. We have, over the years, counted dead children, dead mothers, dead fathers, dead governors and dead prime ministers. People have died at terror’s hands while shopping, while taking their children to school, while praying and in hospitals while already dying. It is, therefore, some small solace that one new set of numbers, delivered by the Institute for Economics and Peace, an American think tank, suggests the possibility of hope, of some reprieve after nearly two decades of death’s devastation. According to numbers collected by the Global Terrorism Index (GTI), a set of data collected and maintained by the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism at the University of Maryland, there were 677 fewer deaths from terrorism in Pakistain in 2015. Overall, Pakistain saw the third largest decrease in deaths from terrorism worldwide, followed by Iraq and Nigeria. The improvement followed a global trend, with the number of deaths from terrorist attacks decreasing by 10 per cent. Along with Pakistain, 76 countries improved their scores in 2015. This is welcome news for Pakistain, scarred and maimed as it is by the scourge of terrorism and its implications. Not only has the shadow of the sudden deaths of innocent people inculcated a deep sense of paranoia in those who have lived, it has ripped the fragile threads of national unity, religious tolerance and general civility. Even as terror’s shadow seems to recede, the future promises its own challenges. Posted by: Fred 2016-11-23 |
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