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Top spy agencies told the Supreme Court on Tuesday that Pakistan has lost 49,000 lives since

the apocalyptic attacks on World Trade Center and Pentagon in the United States on

September 11, 2001. Interestingly, government agencies had put the fatality figure at 40,000 in

earlier reports.

More than 24,000 peopleboth civilians and troopswere killed in terrorist attacks during the

period between 2001 and 2008. The last five years have proved costlier, in human terms.

Another 25,000-plus people died during military offensives against Taliban insurgents in therestive tribal regions since 2008, the attorney for the intelligence agencies told the court in a

report.

According to the report, the armed forces have suffered 15,681 casualties while fighting Talibanmilitants in the tribal areas since 2008with 2009 being the deadliest year for them.

The court was informed that the armed forces were called in aid of the civil administration as thelaw enforcers, including the police, were unable to tackle the challenge in most of Khyber-

Pakhtunkhwa province.

As many as 5,152 civilians have been killed and 5,678 injured in bomb blasts and suicide attackssince 2008, says the report. Similarly, 3,051 insurgents were killed and 1,228 wounded in

security operations during the same period.

According to the report, there have been 235 suicide hits, 9,257 rocket attacks and 4,256 bomb

explosions in the last five years. More than 200 members of tribal peace committees, orLashkars, including volunteers and chieftains, were also killed and 275 wounded in targeted

attacks in the last three years.

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The report also revealed that 1,030 schools and colleges were destroyed by Taliban insurgents in

Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa from 2009 to 2013.

The spy agencies also claimed that the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, the outlawed conglomerate

of militant groups blamed for most violence in the country, has weakened due to infighting and

fragmentation. Some of its splinter groups have morphed into sectarian extremist groupswhichare mounting attacks on the Shia community in Quetta and Karachi.

Now, the TTP is not as effective as it was before 2008 when it challenged the writ of the state,the report said adding that peoples support for militants is waning.

According to the report, the Afghan government was colluding with the Swat chapter of TTP.

And this collusion could lead to a surge in cross-border attacks by Taliban militants in the

bordering districts of Chitral, Dir, Swat and tribal regions of Bajaur and Momand. This is the

first time Pakistani security forces openly blamed the Afghan government for colluding with theTTP.