ISLAMABAD: An overwhelming majority of experts consulted for a research believed that the gains made by Pakistan against terrorism and violent extremism would remain unsustainable without deploying soft approaches, especially in the wake of recent re-emergence of violence in the country.

The Pak Institute for Peace Studies (PIPS) - an Islamabad-based policy research and advocacy think tank - released the research study: “A path to peace” that investigates the scope for non-violent approaches in confronting Pakistan’s security challenges.

It explores how softer approaches can offer more efficient path towards bringing holistic and sustainable peace in the country.

The report is based on extensive input from experts from all regions of Pakistan who gathered in Islamabad for a consultation.

Say Pakistan’s gains made against terrorism would not be sustainable with reliance on force alone

The participants included lawmakers, members of the federal cabinet, former senior military officials, religious scholars, academics, senior journalists, representatives of civil society organisations and officials of Punjab Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD).

Based on the primary data, the study gives recommendations for building sustainable peace in the form of a “Charter of Peace.” The charter would be used to engage and sensitise policymakers, political parties, civil society organisations and educational campuses as well as madressahs to make softer approaches part of Pakistan’s counter violent extremism (CVE) and counter-terrorism (CT) arsenal.

The perception assessment survey of the consultation’s participants and other stakeholders revealed that an overwhelming majority (93.5 per cent) of the respondents were of the view that Pakistan’s gains made against terrorism would not be sustainable with the reliance continuing to be on the use of force alone. Alarmingly, but perhaps not surprisingly, over two-third of the respondents (71pc) were of the view that Pakistan’s approach against terrorism and violent extremism in the past had not focused on countering the militant narratives.

Unsurprisingly, nearly half the respondents (49pc) thought that the emphasis of Pakistan’s efforts against terrorism and violent extremism in recent years had been on hard military options.

In the last many years, particularly after 2014, Pakistan managed to achieve considerable success in containing terrorism. Militant groups no longer hold large areas under their effective control, and attacks and casualties declined sharply affording Pakistan a degree of relative peace.

It is not a secret that Pakistan has relied on hard options in dealing with terrorism and violent extremism over the past two decades. Thus, Pakistan’s growing extremism challenge, including factors, dynamics, ideologies and actors that feed into terrorism, have not received as much attention.

Though hard approaches eliminate terrorists already on the ground, as long as the motivation driving them survives, more would continue to take their place, the report says.

“In that context, until the ‘mindset’ driving terrorism and violent extremism and the networks that connect them are confronted and eradicated, claims of victory over terrorism may be premature and unsustainable.”

For the same reason, soft approaches must be an indispensable component in any framework, particularly in the case of Pakistan, where not just terrorism but violent extremism is also

rampant.

The study says that the need for considering soft approaches has grown more urgent with the Taliban regaining power in Afghanistan, and a clear uptick in security-related incidents in Pakistan in recent months.

An early section of this report offers a brief overview of the CVE framework in Pakistan, enumerating the scope and impact of the key CVE tools and strategies that the country has sought to use in recent years.

A quick assessment of the factors and drivers of extremism in Pakistan is followed by analysis of the findings of the regional consultation and of the perception assessment survey.

The study also mentions international best practices and principles for establishing effective CVE efforts and frameworks.

Published in Dawn, April 30th, 2022