ISLAMABAD: Notwithstanding the much publicised National Action Plan (NAP) for countering terrorism and extremism framed in the aftermath of the Peshawar school tragedy, it appears that the state still lacks both; clarity on extremism and the capacity to fight it.

More worryingly, the post-Peshawar national consensus against militancy also looks to be slowly fading, speakers at the second day of Jinnah Institute’s Ideas Conclave observed on Wednesday.

The second day featured extensive discussions on extremism and militancy and some speakers even held the state responsible for the growth of extremism in the society.

Also read: Extremism danger

“We are clearly not fighting extremism,” senior journalist Zahid Hussain said as he pointed to the ‘contradictory statements’ issued by the government following the adoption of the 20-point NAP.

The government plan “talks about countering extremism, but is itself unclear about extremism” and the national consensus that had emerged after the Dec 16 tragedy, he said, was crumbling due to the perception that religion was being targeted.

Mr Hussain said that the government wasn’t ready to deal with extremism and pointed to the state’s inaction against the radical cleric of the government-run Lal Masjid, Abdul Aziz.

Referring to the civil society movement that has been protesting Aziz’s support for the Taliban launched the #ReclaimYourMosque movement calling for his ouster, Mr Hussain said: “We should be more focused on reclaiming the country, not just our mosques.”

He said that with government reluctant to take action against known radicals, he had all the more reason to be sceptical.

Mr Hussain said the fight against terrorism shouldn’t just be against the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) alone, but against all groups that have taken up arms.

“The Punjabi Taliban, sectarian groups and TTP can’t be separated… TTP’s largest support base comes from sectarian outfits in Punjab,” he observed.

Speakers at Ideas Conclave say post-Peshawar resolve is fading; Naveed Qamar warns of worsening energy crisis

Columnist and TV anchor Ejaz Haider also questioned the state’s capacity to fight extremism and militancy.

“[There’s] a bit of irony in the way we have acronym-ed the National Action Plan, N-A-P. Hope we aren’t napping,” he quipped.

Mr Haider said that inadequate policing and the unimplemented police reforms of 2002 were impeding civilian law enforcement efforts against extremism.

The military, meanwhile, was focused on just winning back physical space lost to the Taliban, he added.

Maj-Gen Noel Khokhar, Director General of the Institute for Strategic Studies Research and Analysis at the National Defence University, said three spaces have to be cleared of extremists and militants. The first two – Fata; and cities and towns –, he said, was a law enforcement job, but recovering the space in the minds of the people was the job of political parties and media.

Rights activist Ali Dayan Hassan said social injustices and a sense of deprivation played a major role in creating societal sympathy for extremism.

“Over 40,000 Pakistanis died due to terrorism, but the country remained divided,” he said, adding that the consensus that emerged after the Peshawar incident was being lost.

Mr Hassan said that the political parties by approving the 21st Constitutional Amendment had signalled that the only hope for the country was martial justice. “It was a damning indictment of the democratic polity,” he commented.

Former foreign secretary Najmuddin Sheikh believed that extremism could only be gotten rid of once the government and society achieved clarity and the police was depoliticised.

Mr Sheikh also called for rebuilding trust with the international community to obtain its support for counter-extremism and anti-militancy operations.

“We need more resources, other than our kitty, to fight this war,” he said.

Civil society activist Marvi Sirmed spoke about growing radicalisation among the youth and the gender aspect of the problem.

Energy

The session on energy observed that political interference, discretionary decision-making and administrative inefficiencies were behind the energy crisis.

PPP leader Naveed Qamar, a former petroleum and power minister, warned that the energy crisis may worsen further.

“Brace yourselves. We haven’t seen the worst of [the energy crisis] yet.”

He said the government would have to urgently arrange finances to buy furnace oil or power outages could go up.

Nargis Sethi, former power secretary, said that governments over-emphasised the demand and supply gap as the cause of loadshedding, but problems with transmission, distribution and billing were often ignored.

Published in Dawn January 22nd , 2015

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