Centre to help combat violent extremism
PHOTO: FILE
The second meeting of the Board of Governors (BoG) of Centre of Excellence on Countering Violent Extremism was held here on Friday with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) Chief Minister Mahmood Khan in the chair.
Provincial Minister for Higher Education Kamran Bangash, MPA Dr Ayesha Asad, administrative secretaries of departments concerned, chief coordination officer centre of excellence and other board members attended the meeting.
Briefing about the implementation status of the decisions taken in the last meeting, it was revealed that Human Resource and Finance Committees under the board had been constituted and notified as well.
The five-member HR and finance committees are chaired by the chief coordination officer of the centre. They include representatives from law, establishment, home, finance and higher education departments.
Agreeing to the composition of the committees, the board has formally approved the HR and Financial Regulations 2022 under the board.
The board has also accorded approval to initiate the recruitment process of staff required to operationalize the centre.
Earlier, briefing about the aims and objectives of the centre, its proposed functions and other important aspects, the forum was informed that the centre would work as a research-based institute to cope with the issues emerging from terrorism, subversive activities, hatred, extremism, intolerance and radicalization etc.
The vision behind establishing this centre was to create a society free of violent extremism and terrorism. It would be a unique initiative of its kind not only in Pakistan but across Asia.
The chief minister on the occasion has ordered completion of necessary steps to operationalize the centre as soon as possible.
He said that the provincial government was taking every possible step to create a peaceful and violence-free society, adding that establishment of the proposed centre of excellence was also a part of this struggle.
He hoped that the Centre of Excellence would play an important role in creating a peaceful society by using evidence based innovative approaches and worldwide research to prevent and combat violent extremism in the province.
Published in The Express Tribune, July 16th, 2022.