Fighting terrorism: Politicians asked to play bigger role
Participants of seminar say social attitudes need to be changed.
Minto said a “comprehensive action plan” was needed compete with terrorism and extremism. PHOTO: ZAFAR ASLAM
LAHORE:
Political parties should play a more active role in eliminating extremism from the society as military operations and executions alone cannot change social attitudes, said speakers at a seminar at South Asian Free Media Partnership on Saturday.
Najam Sethi, Hamid Mir, Abid Hassan Minto and SAFMA secretary general Imtiaz Alam were also present.
Alam said terrorism could only be eliminated from the society if steps were taken to change social attitudes.
For this, he said, the government and political parties would have to play an active role in sending their workers to cities and villages to propagate the message of peace.
“The question is, who will provide security to them,” he said.
“Our children are being taught extremist views in schools but no one has taken notice of the need for curriculum reform,” he said.
Responding to a question, he said he supported formation of military courts to try terrorism suspects.
“We must be wary of these courts being used for political ambitions,” he added.
Minto said a “comprehensive action plan” was needed compete with terrorism and extremism.
“Extremism has been embedded in our society for a generation,” he said. He said it was unfair to blame foreign conspiracies for internal failures.
He said there was a perception that terrorism was born in Pakistan when Russia occupied in Afghanistan.
He said when he had visited Afghanistan in 1979 the then Afghan president had urged the Pakistani government in a public speech to stop sending terrorists to Afghanistan.
Mir said that the all-parties conference after the Peshawar incident was convened to decide the scope of the military courts. He said many politicians supported these courts despite the fact they had been accused of terrorism.
He said there must have been security lapses at Army Public School because terrorists had passed at least three check posts to reach there.
He said the first suicide bomb attack in Pakistan had occurred in 1995.
“At the time, America had not invaded Afghanistan,” he recalled.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 4th, 2015.
Political parties should play a more active role in eliminating extremism from the society as military operations and executions alone cannot change social attitudes, said speakers at a seminar at South Asian Free Media Partnership on Saturday.
Najam Sethi, Hamid Mir, Abid Hassan Minto and SAFMA secretary general Imtiaz Alam were also present.
Alam said terrorism could only be eliminated from the society if steps were taken to change social attitudes.
For this, he said, the government and political parties would have to play an active role in sending their workers to cities and villages to propagate the message of peace.
“The question is, who will provide security to them,” he said.
“Our children are being taught extremist views in schools but no one has taken notice of the need for curriculum reform,” he said.
Responding to a question, he said he supported formation of military courts to try terrorism suspects.
“We must be wary of these courts being used for political ambitions,” he added.
Minto said a “comprehensive action plan” was needed compete with terrorism and extremism.
“Extremism has been embedded in our society for a generation,” he said. He said it was unfair to blame foreign conspiracies for internal failures.
He said there was a perception that terrorism was born in Pakistan when Russia occupied in Afghanistan.
He said when he had visited Afghanistan in 1979 the then Afghan president had urged the Pakistani government in a public speech to stop sending terrorists to Afghanistan.
Mir said that the all-parties conference after the Peshawar incident was convened to decide the scope of the military courts. He said many politicians supported these courts despite the fact they had been accused of terrorism.
He said there must have been security lapses at Army Public School because terrorists had passed at least three check posts to reach there.
He said the first suicide bomb attack in Pakistan had occurred in 1995.
“At the time, America had not invaded Afghanistan,” he recalled.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 4th, 2015.