CII chief urges using ‘soft power’ against extremism

Qibla Ayaz suggests incorporating ‘Paigham-e-Pakistan’ fatwa in school syllabus

ISLAMABAD: Council of Islamic Ideology (CII) Chairman Dr Qibla Ayaz has called for incorporating the ‘Paigham-e-Pakistan’ fatwa against violent extremism in the school and colleges syllabus.

“Our syllabus needs to be changed. It should include civic approaches for countering terrorism. Right now our syllabus rather contains ideas like ‘defeating’ the western societies. The ideas of coexistence and working together have never been incorporated into the syllabus,” he said.

Dr Ayaz was addressing a roundtable conference organised by the Pakistan Institute for Conflict and Security Studies (PICSS) on Monday. Renowned scholar Dr Mussarat Amin and PICSS Chairman Maj Gen (retd) Saad Khattak also addressed the participants.

He said the counter-narrative is what Pakistan needs to pay attention to.

“Civic approaches to counter violent extremism include soft power, as we have seen them improving the security situation. Gains through use of hard power are temporary. For sustainable peace, soft efforts in the form of civic approaches to counter terrorism and violent extremism are also crucial to the society.”

He said there used to be cultural activities in the past, but now they are almost non-existent.

He also suggested that the Paigham-e-Pakistan fatwa – the counter-narrative by Pakistan – be added to the syllabus at the school and university level. The document has been signed by as many as 500 heads of seminaries, and also by the chiefs of some militant groups.

Dr Ayaz said the policymakers have failed to change the syllabus. The Al-Dawah academy at the International Islamic University is offering diverse training regarding such topics, he added.

Dr Amin talked about applying soft power in the form of counter-narrative to curb violent extremism. In case of minors, it may employ forced isolation from such environment or the parents.

“It is vital to defeat the violent extremist narrative. Pakistan recently published its counter-narrative literature in the form of Paigham-e-Pakistan, which should be added to the syllabus,” he said.