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An article worth a read.
Counter-narrative needed
EditorialJuly 29, 2017
MODERN religiously inspired militancy in Pakistan, as well as other countries, is nebulous and constantly changing shape. The militants, it seems, make full use of technology and are often one step ahead of the state. Governments, on the other hand, respond in a predictable moribund and bureaucratic fashion, which explains why militant groups are so difficult to neutralise. While the state has taken the field against extremists — Zarb-i-Azb, Raddul Fasaad and other military operations being prime examples — away from the battlefield, the response to countering militancy is wanting. For example, as reported in this paper on Friday, the Sindh police’s Counter-Terrorism Department has called for countering the narrative of militants ‘aggressively’. The CTD officials made this observation after it emerged that terrorists, suspected of targeting police officers in Karachi, were trying to reach out to the public: in recent communications intercepted by security agencies, militants were heard ‘regretting’ the loss of civilian lives in the crossfire as they targeted law enforcers. The extremists were also willing to pay compensation to the families of victims.
This is just one example of how the militants are trying to control the narrative. Clearly, various militant groups are developing new tactics to reach out to a wider audience. For example, many of them are moving beyond the ‘traditional’ target audience of seminarians. As the Sindh CTD recently pointed out, the next generation of militants would not emerge from madressahs, but from universities and colleges. Some of the most lethal militants of the recent past have been graduates of top foreign and Pakistani higher education institutes. This indicates that the militant demographic is changing. Terrorist outfits are interested in recruiting professionals — engineers, accountants, tech wizards etc — to forward their aims. Has the state caught on to this trend? Does the government have enough qualified people to identify the triggers of extremism and militancy in educational institutes, as well as online? While terrorist groups are busy recruiting in universities and cyberspace, it is highly doubtful if our law-enforcement agencies have drawn up counter-measures.
Another major threat comes from militants returning from the war zones of the Middle East, especially Syria. As security agencies have highlighted, Syria-returned militants are believed to have formed a lethal new outfit called Ansarul Sharia Pakistan. It was always feared that the conflicts of the Middle East, especially its sectarian wars, would one day spill over into Pakistan. With the formation of such groups and the return of fighters, those fears may now be coming true. While the repeated calls for the state to wake up to these threats are beginning to sound trite, unless the government evolves a multifaceted counterterrorism policy, the number, and complexity, of militant threats will only grow. Amidst the din of politics, have we forgotten that much of the National Action Plan has not been implemented, or that agencies formed to counter the threat, such as Nacta, remain inactive?
Published in Dawn, July 29th, 2017
https://www.dawn.com/news/1348320/counter-narrative-needed
Counter-narrative needed
EditorialJuly 29, 2017
MODERN religiously inspired militancy in Pakistan, as well as other countries, is nebulous and constantly changing shape. The militants, it seems, make full use of technology and are often one step ahead of the state. Governments, on the other hand, respond in a predictable moribund and bureaucratic fashion, which explains why militant groups are so difficult to neutralise. While the state has taken the field against extremists — Zarb-i-Azb, Raddul Fasaad and other military operations being prime examples — away from the battlefield, the response to countering militancy is wanting. For example, as reported in this paper on Friday, the Sindh police’s Counter-Terrorism Department has called for countering the narrative of militants ‘aggressively’. The CTD officials made this observation after it emerged that terrorists, suspected of targeting police officers in Karachi, were trying to reach out to the public: in recent communications intercepted by security agencies, militants were heard ‘regretting’ the loss of civilian lives in the crossfire as they targeted law enforcers. The extremists were also willing to pay compensation to the families of victims.
This is just one example of how the militants are trying to control the narrative. Clearly, various militant groups are developing new tactics to reach out to a wider audience. For example, many of them are moving beyond the ‘traditional’ target audience of seminarians. As the Sindh CTD recently pointed out, the next generation of militants would not emerge from madressahs, but from universities and colleges. Some of the most lethal militants of the recent past have been graduates of top foreign and Pakistani higher education institutes. This indicates that the militant demographic is changing. Terrorist outfits are interested in recruiting professionals — engineers, accountants, tech wizards etc — to forward their aims. Has the state caught on to this trend? Does the government have enough qualified people to identify the triggers of extremism and militancy in educational institutes, as well as online? While terrorist groups are busy recruiting in universities and cyberspace, it is highly doubtful if our law-enforcement agencies have drawn up counter-measures.
Another major threat comes from militants returning from the war zones of the Middle East, especially Syria. As security agencies have highlighted, Syria-returned militants are believed to have formed a lethal new outfit called Ansarul Sharia Pakistan. It was always feared that the conflicts of the Middle East, especially its sectarian wars, would one day spill over into Pakistan. With the formation of such groups and the return of fighters, those fears may now be coming true. While the repeated calls for the state to wake up to these threats are beginning to sound trite, unless the government evolves a multifaceted counterterrorism policy, the number, and complexity, of militant threats will only grow. Amidst the din of politics, have we forgotten that much of the National Action Plan has not been implemented, or that agencies formed to counter the threat, such as Nacta, remain inactive?
Published in Dawn, July 29th, 2017
https://www.dawn.com/news/1348320/counter-narrative-needed
