Military options alone not sufficient to counter extremism

Experts call for comprehensive strategy to engage parliamentarians, activists to implement NAP

Adopting only military options to countering violent extremism (CVE) will not solve the issue and the government must engage a greater number of parliamentarians, activists and the media to effectively implement the National Action Plan (NAP).

This was stated by speakers at a consultative meeting of experts organised by the Sungi Development Foundation and the National Commission for Human Rights (NCHR) to review the CVE process, available mechanisms and their success.



Senator Farhatullah Babar of the Pakistan Peoples Party said that the government’s wrong strategic policies and engagement had failed to contain the menace of extremist violence in the society.

“In the absence of uniform policies, we have created chaos in our society and in many cases, those who were responsible for maintaining peace in the country encroached limits of their power,” Senator Babar said pointedly.

Referring to the cases of missing people, he said that no FIR had been registered in any of the cases yet 51 dead bodies were found in different areas. This, he pointed out, showed the level of fear among the people.

“On the other hand, we have totally failed in developing the counter narrative [to violent extremism],” he said.

National Defence University’s former president Lt. General (retired) Raza Khan stressed on the need for educational reforms and to put every effort to regulate madrassas and religious seminaries. He also stressed on the need for engaging political parties in addressing violent extremism.

Zafarullah Khan, the executive director of the Pakistan Institute of Parliamentary Services (PIPS) said that every citizen should read and practice the first 40 articles of Pakistan’s Constitution.

“It is necessary to engage the youth in a dialogue, and dissenting voices should be respected,” he said.

Sungi Executive Director Shahbaz Malick said that those counter terrorism efforts could not attain the desired objectives owing to the exclusion of larger civil society actors and disengagement of non-state actors.

“The state institutions have failed to provide an alternate narrative. Social engagement and interfaith harmony would take up the agenda of combatting extremist violence to the next level,” Khan said.



Munir Ahmed, the executive director Devcom-Pakistan said that internal security was more important to fight cross-border terrorism and security challenges within the state.

While the 20-point National Action (NAP) has been in effect for the past three years, unfortunately, the government, opposition parties and the forces fighting against the miscreants and anti-state elements have never been on the same page.

On the other hand, he said that all the 20 points included in the National Action Plan (NAP) need to be implemented through sustainable measures.

“Using force is one option to eliminate anti-state and terrorist elements. We never try to address the social engagement process in letter and spirit which culminates in the emergence of such elements.”

Published in The Express Tribune, August 30^th, 2017.