Islamabad : Participants of a roundtable discussion emphasized the need for effective implementation of national security policies and developing a sustained narrative against terrorist violence. They were speaking at a roundtable discussion on the evolving counterterrorism response of Pakistan and the challenges of cross-border terrorism organized by the Institute of Regional Studies (IRS) in the backdrop of the 11th anniversary of the terrorist attack on the Army Public School (APS) in Peshawar in December 2014.
President IRS Ambassador Jauhar Saleem termed the 2014 APS tragedy a defining moment in Pakistan’s history which paved the way for formulation of the National Action Plan (NAP) with a political consensus. He called for countering the terrorists’ propaganda through a sustained counter-terrorism narrative.
Former National Coordinator NACTA, Ihsan Ghani Khan highlighted the gaps in implementation of various good policy documents, including NAP. He maintained that tactical counterterrorism had a limited scope and needed to be bolstered by strategic counterterrorism that included well-thought-out policymaking and effective policy implementation. He added that since terrorism was a crime, the law enforcement mechanisms needed to be strengthened through the revamping of the criminal justice system which was also the last point in NAP.
Pakistan’s former Special Representative for Afghanistan Ambassador Asif Ali Durrani also called for adopting a unified national narrative against terrorism. He urged the strengthening of the police force as first responders in countering terrorism and called for better interagency coordination among various government agencies and departments dealing with counterterrorism.
The Founder and Editor of The Khorasan Diary Iftikhar Firdous said that even though APS was a tragedy in scale and scope, Pakistani policymakers needed to take even attacks targeting the school buildings and not the schoolchildren seriously because in doing that the terrorists were targeting symbols of education in the country. He called for better governance in the merged districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to counter terrorism in those areas.
The Executive Director of the Centre for Law and Security (CLAS), Rehman Azhar said that Pak-Afghan border has certain unique characteristics that need to be considered when devising border security strategies. He also called for implementation of NAP and an effective counter-narrative strategy against terrorism, especially in the two provinces most affected by it. In addition, he also called for seriously addressing the terror and crime nexus in the country.
The Lead of the Afghanistan Program at IRS Aarish U. Khan said that the coming into power of the Taliban government in Afghanistan had necessitated a fresh look at the drivers of terrorism in Pakistan’s bordering areas with Afghanistan.
Sohail Majeed is a Special Correspondent at The Diplomatic Insight. He has twelve plus years of experience in journalism & reporting. He covers International Affairs, Diplomacy, UN, Sports, Climate Change, Economy, Technology, and Health.
