At least 400 Pakistanis were killed in attacks in 2022 Security experts say peace talks with local Taliban helped them reorganize ISLAMABAD: Pakistan suffered a sharp increase in deadly militant attacks in 2022, data compiled by local researchers shows, as armed groups intensified their activity. The Pak Institute for Peace Studies, an Islamabad-based think tank, said there were 441 deaths in 254 attacks this year. The toll is significantly higher than last year, when 335 people were killed by militants in 207 incidents, and in 2020, when 146 attacks killed 220. “The sharp increase in terror attacks in the last two years shows we have been losing the gains made against various militant groups through military operations,” Khawaja Khalid Farooq, former head of the National Counter Terrorism Authority, told Arab News on Friday. While NACTA, which coordinates federal and provincial counterterrorism efforts, did not respond to Arab News queries related to the spike, which has been linked to the resurgence of Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan in the country’s north and increased activity of separatists in the impoverished southwestern Balochistan province. Violence in the early part of the year was mainly carried out by separatist groups in Balochistan, which targeted security forces and Chinese nationals working on the multibillion-dollar China-Pakistan Economic Corridor project. The TTP stepped up attacks in different parts of the country after calling off a ceasefire with the government in November. “The TTP and different Baloch separatist outfits have apparently joined hands to attack our security personnel both in Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provinces which should be a worrying sign,” Farooq said. The group was at its strongest in the 2000s and took control of parts of what is now Pakistan’s northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province in 2007. During that time, militants unleashed a reign of terror, killing and beheading politicians, singers, soldiers and opponents. They banned female education and destroyed almost 200 girls’ schools. They were ousted two years later in a major military operation. However, the group has been regaining strength since last year, as it is believed to have reorganized itself in the tribal districts bordering Afghanistan. The Pakistani Taliban are separate but allied with the Afghan Taliban, who seized power in neighboring Afghanistan last year as US and NATO troops withdrew after 20 years of war. Since then, top TTP leaders and fighters have been hiding in Afghanistan. With the help of Afghanistan’s new rulers, the Pakistani government started peace talks with TTP, which resulted in a ceasefire in late 2021. But as the group called it off last month, PIPS director Muhammad Amir Rana told Arab News that the efforts “proved counterproductive, giving the TTP a chance to regroup and reinforce itself for a fresh wave of attacks.” Journalist and security expert Hassan Khan said Pakistan ignored the militancy issue during the lull period which helped their recent resurgence. “Pakistan released a large number of TTP militants from its prisons during the peace talks, including some elders who had gone back to their respective territories where they regrouped themselves against the state,” he told Arab News. “The situation could get worse if political leaders fail to take ownership of the situation and formulate a national consensus policy to eliminate militants.”