KARACHI Ninety five per cent of sectarian violence all over the world in 2017 was focused on the Shia community, according to a report released by Global Extremism Monitor.
The report was published by Tony Blair Institute for Global Change on Thursday and called on the world to fully engage in a battle of ideas with the extremists on an emergency basis to halt the spread of violence.
According to the study, Pakistan was on a list of countries most affected by violent religious extremism despite lying outside the major conflict zones.
Over 1,489 people were killed by groups that claimed to fight in the name of religion all over the country in 2017, the report revealed. This figure included as many as 247 civilians who were killed in sectarian terrorist attacks in Pakistan in 2017.
Other key findings highlighted in the research underlined that religious extremist groups were fast transforming into transnational actors, which carried out sustained campaigns against the civilian population and weakened state governments.
Global Extremism Monitor observed that sectarianism was the founding ideology of the deadliest and most active terror groups. In addition to these warnings, the authors of the report noted that extremist groups used executions and suicide bombings as a terror tactic and exploited religious doctrines on the nature of war in this regard.
Another important issue mentioned in the document referred to the increasing participation of women in terrorist attacks globally and the terrible continuation of violence in Syria. According to figures released by the international group, more than half of civilian casualties from global terrorism in 2017 were recorded in Syria.
The Monitor also gave a detailed picture of terrorist incidents in 10 of the most violent countries in the world, including Pakistan.
Non-Sunni population under attack in Pakistan
Over 1,489 people were killed in 2017 by groups which claimed to fight in the name of religion in Pakistan, according to Tony Blair Institute for Global Change.
The comprehensive study outlined that terrorists in the country seemed to be working on a two point-agenda, with some extremists seeking to undermine the Pakistani state, while others targeted Shia community and minority groups.
The research detailed that at least 12 terror groups were active in the country over the course of 2017, and seven of them launched terror attacks.
The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) was the deadliest, and managed to kill 173 people in the year. TTP hit civilians, government figures, media personalities and security forces in a systematic campaign to undermine the state of Pakistan.
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