Pak fighting war of perception: Tarar

Minister calls for policy continuity against extremist narratives

ISLAMABAD:

Information Minister Attaullah Tarar on Tuesday said Pakistan's fight against terrorism must extend beyond security operations to countering extremist narratives and misinformation, arguing that the country's experience showed the "perception and narrative war" often began before the actual conflict.

Addressing a capacity-building workshop organised by the Sustainable Social Development Organisation (SSDO) in Islamabad, Tarar said Pakistan had made significant gains against terrorism, but that a policy reversal had subsequently undermined years of counter-terrorism efforts.

"Information managers or narrative builders have to reduce the gap between perception and reality," Tarar said, stressing the importance of the information battle in countering terrorism.

He said Pakistan had faced major security challenges in Karachi and parts of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan, prompting the state to introduce the National Action Plan, which he said received support from all stakeholders.

"Federal and provincial governments, the armed forces and other institutions worked together to eliminate terrorism," he said, adding that narrative-building had been an important part of that effort.

Tarar said terrorism had been eliminated to a large extent by 2017, after which investment had started returning to Pakistan and the security situation had improved. He argued, however, that a subsequent change in policy had caused significant damage to the counter-terrorism campaign.

"The four years of efforts against terrorism suffered greatly because of the policy reversal," he said, adding that political parties had not been taken into confidence when the policy was changed.

Tarar said Pakistan had also achieved significant diplomatic gains and had emerged as a mediator, contributing to an improved international perception of the country.

"Pakistan's soft image has emerged across the world," he said, adding that the government was working to further improve the country's image through "the power of narrative". He said terrorism had no colour, race or religion, and that the state would not tolerate attempts to impose ideologies through violence.

Tarar further said the National Action Plan's legal framework needed to be further strengthened, while the government, provinces and other institutions continued working together to counter terrorism and extremist narratives. "Policies must have continuity, and political parties should reach consensus on them," he said.

Referring to the Pahalgam attack and the subsequent tensions with India, Tarar said the battle over perceptions had begun even before any military confrontation.