DEALING with the scourge of militancy requires multipronged efforts. One way is to fight militants on the battlefield and uproot the infrastructure of terror, as has been done, to an extent, in the tribal areas as well as in our cities through Zarb-i-Azb and ‘intelligence-based operations’, respectively. However, efforts must also be made to prevent young minds from falling into the trap of extremism, and to help them find a way back into the mainstream once they forsake the way of the gun. Pakistan has experimented with deradicalisation programmes, most notably in Swat, where the army-led effort has produced mixed results. Now, as reported in this paper yesterday, Sindh also wants to initiate a deradicalisation project. Officials of the provincial Counter Terrorism Department have said that they plan on deradicalising and rehabilitating around 300 militants lodged in Sindh’s prisons. Help would be sought from professional psychologists to understand the factors that drew these individuals towards militancy. The officials went on to say that two youngsters who were on their way to Syria to fight for the militant Islamic State group renounced militancy through the efforts of the Sindh CTD.

It is well known that militant masterminds prey upon the weak and the poor, luring them towards extremist violence with a mix of religious rhetoric and worldly enticements. Certainly, youngsters who had been brainwashed and who now renounce militancy deserve a second chance. However, we must approach deradicalisation efforts with caution. For example, with the aforementioned programme in Swat, there is little transparency and it is not known quite how successful the effort really has been, with rumours that some of the programme’s graduates have returned to militancy. Even with militancy reform programmes in other countries, such as Saudi Arabia, there is a considerable number of supposedly ‘reformed’ militants that return to violence once reintegrated into society. Perhaps the state — with the help of law enforcers and psychologists — should investigate which militants have been drawn towards extremism due to financial and socio-economic reasons, and which fighters are hard-core ideological supporters of militant causes. In the case of the latter, deradicalisation efforts would have little, if any, effect. Coming back to Sindh’s efforts, while the deradicalisation plan may seem like a good idea, the provincial authorities must also pay attention to more basic efforts, such as building high-security prisons for ‘hard-core’ militants, as that has yet to get off the drawing board.

Published in Dawn, January 3rd, 2017