Civilian Suffering Suggests Pakistan Stability Far Off, Reuters, 9 February 2011

EXCERPT: "Dozens of civilians maimed or wounded by bombings, landmines and shootings in recent months lie in a hospital in Pakistan's northwest, raising doubts over government assertions that conflict zones had been stabilised. Pakistani policy-makers and their American backers take a strategic view of the war on al Qaeda-backed militants, often overlooking the scale of civilian casualties which can shed light on what progress has been made. [...] Despite a series of military offensives against Taliban insurgents, civilians remain highly vulnerable to militant attacks and are likely to lose confidence in Pakistani leaders if the violence doesn't ease, analysts say. The Campaign for Innocent Victims in Conflict (CIVIC), a U.S. advocacy group, says there were likely more civilian casualties in Pakistan in 2009 than in Afghanistan. In 2010, 3,570 civilians were killed in Pakistan in the war between government forces and Islamist militants, slightly more than the previous year, according to the Pak Institute for Peace Studies. Taliban militants have been digging in despite pressure from the military."

Read the full story.

Related articles and reports:
, The Washington Post, 9 Febraury 2011
Civilians in armed conflict: Civilian harm and conflict in Northwest Pakistan, Campaign for Innocent Victims in Conflict via the Human Security Gateway, 1 October 2010
Pakistan's war on civilians, Open Democracy via the Human Security Gateway, 28 May 2009

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