Quantifying the Terror Laden War

9/11 became the synonym of disaster and anguish in the 21st century. The so-called ‘war on terror‘ that was supposed to restrain terrorizing factors has caused even greater harm to human beings. For more than a decade, countless lives have been extinguished and human beings have been propelled to devour violence. The extent of suffering and brutality has trespassed all boundaries of morality. ‘We’, the silent spectators are standing at a point where human life is equated with a mathematical digit. This, obviously, isn’t new. History is preserved in a quantitative way. It will continue to do so till the time precious corporeal bodies will be quantified.

In a recent report that Pakistan‘s top brass intelligence shared with the Supreme Court it was revealed that:

24,000 people both civilians and troops were killed in terrorist attacks during the period between 2001 and 2008.

15,681 casualties have been suffered by the armed forces in the tribal areas since 2008- with 2009 being the deadliest year for them.

5,152 civilians have been killed and 5,678 injured in bomb blasts and suicide attacks since 2008.

More than 200 members of tribal peace committees or Lashkars, including volunteers and chieftains , were also killed and 275 wounded in targeted attacks in the last 3 years.

In return the intended targets don’t even reach 30% of the unnecessary or innocent victims.

As, since 2008, only 3,051 insurgents were killed. Another 1,228 were wounded in security operations.

235 suicide hits

9,257 rocket attacks

4,256 bomb explosions in the last five years

‘Brazen attacks and mutilated bodies’ is the most prominent outcome of a war that was in vain keeping in view the purpose with which it was waged. This isn’t new, it was initially indoctrinated during the Afghan war when the same insurgents and fundamentalists were the most applauded heroes in the US. The American hawks felt that it was justified to provide books under the USAID to Pakistani children living in the tribal regions near bordering Afghanistan. Those books taught children the basic ‘addition and subtraction’ not by counting apples or oranges, but by looking at the number of Russian soldiers! They know how to count, thanks to those cost-effective books! However, this time they are counting the members of their tribe and family. It isn’t hard to predict that how will they balance the equation, they too will quantify the terror laden war!