Pakistan by the numbers

Pakistan ranks 157 out of 162 countries on the Global Peace Index. Pakistan is attributed with being ranked so low on the index because of numerous indicators. Pakistan ranks high in political terror, terrorist activity, and nuclear and heavy weapons. So it can be easily deduced that Pakistan will also have a high ranking on the Global Terrorism Index, and it does. Pakistan ranks as the 2nd highest country impacted by the acts of terrorism, according to the Global Terrorism Index. The index uses a 5-year average of 4 indicators: incidents, fatalities, injuries, and property. These indexes allude to the fact that Pakistan suffers from terrorism, but why?

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According to Transparency international, Pakistan ranks 127th out of the 177 countries listed, and scores 28 out of a scale of 100. Unfortunately, Pakistan’s government is corrupt. Compound that with the high levels of corruption with a low literacy rate of 55.5% of the roughly 180 million citizens, a low level of human development, high censorship of the press, and it starts to become apparent why Pakistan is failing to stop terrorism.

Pakistan is fractured into 5 separate ethnic groups and 4 provinces. Punjab, the largest and most populated province has provided the majority of personnel for the military and bureaucracy. Which has led the other three provinces, Sindh, Balochistan, and Khyber Pakhtunkwa, to resent Punjab. Pakistan also has a relatively lawless tribal regions. These tribal areas have gained increased focus for both Pakistan and the US since the Afghan conflict began back in 2001, as both countries see these areas has harboring extremists. The Pakistani Army also uses militants from the tribal areas as military proxies to help influence the different regions of the countryside.

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Pakistan is governed by a parliamentary system that is supposed to represent the people. Although the parliamentary is in place, it is highly ineffective. Perhaps partially due to the fact of rampant corruption, or more likely that the Pakistani Army and Inter-Services Intelligence agency have taken the lion’s share of the national budget. By the army and the ISI overpowering the Pakistani parliament, the citizens have witnessed a lack of economic and social development. It seems as though the both agencies are much more focused on national security with respect to India on the eastern border and the tribal regions. The judicial system is also very inefficient, corruption and lengthy trials surround the judicial process, leading many citizens to lose faith in the justice system.

So what does all this mean? Pakistan suffers from terrorism because the government of Pakistan is not equipped to manage the threat. There is also a large portion of the population that follows a similar narrative to the terrorists, thus allowing the country to remain a safe haven. It is important to note, not every government official or Pakistani condones the actions of extremists. But as long as Pakistan stays its course, and the populace has no voice; the country will still vulnerable to extremism.

Additional Information:
http://www.transparency.org/country/#PAK_DataResearch
http://www.cfr.org/interactives/CG_Pakistan/index.html#/making-sense-of-pakistan/
http://freedomhouse.org/country/pakistan#.U1yH7ce0bSE

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