Islamabad: Pakistan is set to see a sharp rise in deadly terrorist attacks in 2022 as armed groups increase their activity, according to data compiled by local researchers.

According to the Pak Institute for Peace Studies, an organization headquartered in Islamabad, 254 attacks resulted in 441 deaths this year.

The death toll is significantly higher than in 2018, when terrorists killed 335 people in 207 incidents, and in 2020, when 220 people were killed in 146 attacks.

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According to Khawaja Khalid Farooq, former head of the National Counter Terrorism Authority, "The sharp increase in terrorist attacks over the last two years shows that we are losing ground on the gains made against various terrorist groups through military operations." Farooq gave a statement to Arab News on Friday.

NACTA, which coordinates federal and provincial counter-terrorism efforts, was contacted by Arab News regarding a rise in separatist activity in the impoverished southwestern Balochistan province and the rise of the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan in the country's north. Those connected to the increase in NACTA did not respond.

Separatist organizations in Balochistan were primarily responsible for violence directed at security personnel and Chinese workers on the multi-billion dollar China-Pakistan Economic Corridor project in the first half of the year.

After breaking a ceasefire with the government in November, the TTP stepped up its attacks across the country.

According to Farooq, it should be a worrying sign that TTP and various Baloch separatist organizations have apparently joined hands to attack our security personnel in the provinces of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan.

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The group was most powerful in the 2000s, and in 2007 it captured parts of Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. At that time terrorists wreaked havoc by killing and beheading politicians, musicians, soldiers and rivals. About 200 girls' schools were destroyed and female education was outlawed.

Two years later, in an important military operation, he was driven out. Although the group is believed to have reorganized itself in the tribal districts bordering Afghanistan, it has been gaining strength over the past year.

The Afghan Taliban, which took control of the neighboring country last year as US and NATO troops withdrew after 20 years of war, are separate but allies of the Pakistani Taliban.

Since then top TTP fighters and leaders are hiding in Afghanistan.

The Pakistani government began peace talks with the TTP with the assistance of new leaders from Afghanistan and called for a ceasefire in late 2021.

However, PIPS director Muhammad Amir Rana told Arab News that the efforts "proved counterproductive, giving the TTP an opportunity to regroup and fortify itself for a new wave of attacks" as the group abandoned it last month. Had given. did.

According to journalist and security expert Hasan Khan, Pakistan's neglect of the issue of insurgency during the downturn has aided in their recent resurgence.

During the peace talks, Pakistan released a large number of TTP terrorists from their jails, including some elderly, who had returned to their respective areas and regrouped against the state, he told Arab News.

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"The situation could worsen if political leaders do not take responsibility and develop a national consensus policy to root out extremists," the report warned.