Incidents of targeted killings — on political and apolitical grounds — in Karachi have dropped by 63 percent while sectarian killings dropped down by 28 percent till the third quarter of this year, according to the statistics compiled by the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) and released on Monday.
The statistics show a significant decrease in the number of targeted killings, on apolitical, political and sectarian grounds.
Moreover, the casualties of policemen also decreased by about 39 percent.
Target killings In the past nine months, 208 people with no political affiliated were killed as compared to 568 last year, showing a decrease of 63 percent.
Similarly, the number of people killed with political affiliation this year was 40, as compared to 107 in the corresponding period last year, also showing a decline of 63 percent in the number of incidents.
Sectarian killings also showed a declining trend with 69 people shot dead in the nine months of this year as compared to 97 in the corresponding period of 2014.
May 2015 appeared to be the deadliest month with the at least 45 members of the Ismaili community losing their lives in a cold-blooded attack on their bus in Safoora Goth.
On the other hand, the following months of June, July and August then passed relatively peaceful with no sectarian killing reported from the city.
One man was then killed on sectarian grounds in September, according to the report.
However, the number of people killed at the hands of law-enforcement agencies increased by two percent than the corresponding period from the last year.
The Karachi office of the HRCP regularly compiles data pertaining to violence in Karachi from information available in leading newspapers and releases a comparison of the data every three months.
According to the report of the third quarter released on Monday, 431 people were killed in encounters with law-enforcement agencies so far this year as compared to 421 people last year, showing an increase of two percent from the corresponding period in 2014.
However, the number of encounters of law-enforcement agencies with police personnel has remained the same as last year.
Out of the 431 people killed, 332 died in police encounters while 98 in shootouts with paramilitary personnel. One man was reported to have died from alleged police torture.
Last year till now, 332 people had been killed in police encounters while 87 died while fighting paramilitary forces. Two people were killed due to alleged police torture.
The report showed that killings of members of proscribed and militant organisations also decreased by 12 percent this year. Till September 2015, 51 alleged members of banned outfits were killed in encounters while last year the number of 58, a decline of 12 percent.
Fortunately, the casualties of law-enforcement personnel decreased this year by around 39 percent with 69 cops and four paramilitary personnel losing their lives this year. Last year, 114 policemen and 11 Rangers men had lost their lives in the first nine months in different incidents of violence.
Moreover, the compiled figures also showed that casualties in Lyari from gang-related violence also decreased by 45 percent.
So far this year, 37 people were killed as compared to 67 people in 2014, in various incidents of gang-related violence.
Meanwhile, the appearance of days-old dumped bodies from different parts of the city also declined by 39 percent this year, the data showed.
So far this year, 169 bodies have been recovered from different parts of the city while the figures stood at 275 bodies at the corresponding period of last year.
Similarly, casualties from bomb blasts also dropped by 48 percent since 14 people died this year in explosions as compared to 27 in 2014.
