EASO Country of Origin Information Report. Security Situation

English

This report is an update of the July 2016 EASO COI Report Pakistan Security Situation and is based on information available from 1 April 2016 to 31 May 2017. The information in this report results from desk research of public specialised paper-based and electronic sources, which were consulted within the timeframe and the scope of the research. Following a fact-finding mission conducted in April 2017 in Pakistan (Islamabad and Lahore) by the Belgian COI unit and funded by the European Commission’s Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund (AMIF), specialised information concerning the security situation was added to this report.

In the first part, a general description is given of the security situation in Pakistan. The second part details the situation per province. A general description of the provinces contains information on the geography and population, on the background of the conflict, including the actors active in each province. This is followed by a description of recent trends in the security situation, including the nature of the violence, frequency, targets, locations and victims. Finally, a separate chapter is dedicated to displacements.

Both the general and regional descriptions provide information from various sources on the relevant topics and indicators.

Policy

The security and human rights situation in Pakistan is problematic. Many citizens of Pakistan are being exposed to ethno-political or sectarian violence and the Pakistani authorities are often unable or unwilling to offer protection. The majority of the violence in Pakistan can be attributed to the terror organisations that are active in the country. The terror organisations primarily target members of the security services and the army, members of religious minorities and the police force. In addition, Pakistan sometimes sees large-scale attacks aiming to cause a maximum number of casualties within a specific community. Religious minorities, primarily Shi’a Muslims, are generally targeted. However, such attacks are rather the exception than the rule. The security situation in the country is further influenced by the armed conflict between extremist elements and government troops in the north-west of the country as well as by the nationalist uprising in Baluchistan.

Land: 
Pakistan

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