Discussion: Counter-narrative must to beat radicalisation say experts

Speakers highlight the need for greater cooperation among countries to reverse extremist trends

ISLAMABAD: Experts on Monday stressed the need for a counter-narrative to reverse the trend of radicalisation in Pakistan.

At a round table discussion organized by Heinrich Böll Stiftung (HBS) and Center for Research and Security Studies (CRSS), speakers from Australia and Bangladesh shared their experiences of dealing with multicultural societies and ensuring religious freedoms as well as states’ impartiality towards different religions and ethnic groups.

The discussion titled “Governance, Community and Religion (GOCORE)” underpinned the need for secular governance ensuring equal citizenry in a multi-faith, multi-cultural society.

Participants spoke about democraticising the state and politics rather than looking at  them through the prism of religion. They were of the view that a tolerant approach towards diversity was essential to achieve societal peace and nation building.

Egyptian-Australian speaker, Dr Anne Aly, said that Muslim communities of extremely diverse diaspora of eighteen countries were present in Australia today. “Developing a single approach was not going to work if you have such different ethnicities” she said.

“Case studies show that young, second-generation men who are joining the Islamic State (IS) today were well-integrated people who were doing well at school. Internet has played a great role to expose them to the extremist point of view,” said Aly.

Young men who are going overseas from the western countries have very little knowledge of Islam and increased scrutiny of Muslim communities was something they did not respond to well, she said. “There is also anger at foreign policy which is assumed to be the root cause of conflict in the Middle East.”

Aly said there is a need for more cooperation between the countries who are grappling with the same issues.

Jahangirnagar University Dhaka Associate Professor Shahab Enam Khan talked about radicalisation in Bangladesh. He said that Pakistan could look towards Bangladesh and how the Bangladeshi government was working to reverse the process.

He said that Pakistan needed to develop its counter-narrative discourse for its youth. Khan said radicalisation of the youth was affecting the entire nationhood process, He said the states must not ignore youth’s radicalisation.

“If Pakistan wants to make its future secure, it has to focus on its youth,” said Khan.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 21^st, 2014.