Yearbook 2015
 Pakistan. During the year, hundreds of people became
victims of numerous violent attacks. In the Sind province of
southeastern Pakistan, a bomb exploded in a Shiite mosque
during a Friday prayer and 61 people were killed. In
Karachi, six men opened fire on a bus carrying Shiite
pilgrims and more than 40 of the passengers died. In
Pakistan's second largest city of Lahore, at least 14 people
were killed when bombs detonated outside two churches during
a Sunday worship service. According to
COUNTRYAAH, various Sunni Muslim extremist
organizations, Jundallah, Lashkar-e-Jhangvi and Islamic
State (IS), were suspected of being behind the death.
According to a study by the Global Terrorism Index, the
number of terrorist acts in Pakistan had increased radically
since 2013. The increase was described as "a violent hack in
the peace spiral". At the same time, attacks against
terrorists increased.
In January, the government introduced military courts to
deal with terrorism cases and enacted a law change that the
stop for executions introduced in 2008 would no longer apply
to persons convicted of terrorist offenses. The change was a
result of more than 130 children and 16 adults being
murdered by the Taliban movement TPP in a school massacre in
Peshawar in December 2014. The attack was described as the
worst terrorist act in the country's history.
In March, the stop for executions ceased to apply to the
death sentence of civilians as well. The decision meant that
several thousand people in death risked execution. According
to Amnesty International, there were 8,000 deaths in the
country at the time of the change of law.
In April, Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi was released against the
castle. Lahkvi has been identified as the brain behind the
terrorist bombing in Bombay 2008, when 166 people died. The
decision stirred a storm of condemnation in India, calling
the release an insult to the victims.
The same month, during a visit to Pakistan's capital,
Islamabad, Chinese President Xi Jinping announced plans for
a 300-mile-long trade route from western China down into
Pakistan. Chinese investment in roads, railways and oil
pipelines is estimated to cost $ 46 billion and will secure
Pakistan's troubled energy supply.
In May, eight passengers were killed when a helicopter
crashed on its way to the opening of a tourist project.
Among those killed were Ambassadors of Norway, Indonesia and
Malaysia. The cause of the accident was unclear. Taliban
claimed they shot down the helicopter while the Pakistani
government stated it was an accident due to a motor failure.
During the summer, Pakistan suffered the worst heat wave
in 35 years. Authorities issued emergency permits at the
hospitals in the most affected province of Sind and in
Pakistan's largest city of Karachi. By June, the heat had
claimed more than 1,000 lives and, according to the
Pakistani charity Edhi Foundation, another 500 people could
die. In Karachi, with 20 million residents, there was a
shortage of electricity and water supply was limited.
At the beginning of August, unusually heavy monsoon rains
emerged through southern and southeast Asia. The rainfall
caused landslides and submerged entire villages. In
Pakistan, 850,000 people were killed and at least 116 died.
Since 2010, the country has suffered fatal flooding at about
the same time each year.
In the same month, Parliament's fourth largest party, the
opposition party Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), left its
seats in parliament in protest against the authorities
having resorted to MQM supporters in Karachi with the help
of army soldiers. MQM has been accused of forcibly
controlling the city of Karachi, something the party denies.
At the end of August, Amnesty International reported a
dramatic increase in the number of death sentences,
especially in Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Indonesia and
Iran. According to Amnesty International, Pakistan justifies
the death penalty for being an effective response to the
terrorist threat. Amnesty International stated that over 200
people were executed in Pakistan during the year and that
hundreds more that could be linked to terrorism could be
executed.
In October, an earthquake of magnitude 7.5 occurred in
the mountainous Hindu coast of Afghanistan. Khyber
Paktunkhwa province in northwestern Pakistan was severely
affected and in the Pakistani village of Bahadur 2,500
houses were destroyed and many were forced to sleep under
open skies.
In December, the death penalty was executed against four
out of six people sentenced to death for involvement in the
massacre against a school in Peshawar in December 2014.
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