exposes our narrow understanding of violent extremism in Pakistan. Pakistan’s militant landscape needs remapping: serious academic efforts are needed to come to grips with new complexities. No segment of our society is safe from the threat of violent extremism that is prevalent in different forms in all strata of society.
Second, the rationale behind focusing on universities and higher education institution for recruitment is that other militant networks like the Taliban have a monopoly on recruiting from the lower ranks of society. The educated population remains an available open option for Al-Qaeda and IS. Additionally, the Al-Qaeda and IS brand may have a larger appeal to university students and their ilk who may hold extremist leanings but do not wish to join more ‘tribal’ and local groups.
For instance in September 2013, Pakistani security forces discovered a terrorist cell linked to Al-Qaeda at Punjab University, Lahore’s premier public sector university. In February 2014, another organised network affiliated with Al-Qaeda was detected in Karachi. The network had multiple wings whose members ranged from highly educated individuals to IT professionals and technologists who worked on bright students as potential members.
Third, smart use of the internet and social media by terrorist groups like IS has alarmingly increased the youth’s vulnerability to self-radicalisation through internet. Use of social media has revolutionised the recruitment prospects of would-be jihadists to their favourite militant organisations. So, the threat of cyber radicalisation and online militant recruitment is critical and real.
At present, there are 32.4 million internet users in Pakistan, half of whom use the internet on their portable electronic devices, including mobiles. More than 70 percent of these internet users are young people. The focus of the jihadist organisations on the online battle can be understood by a July 2005 statement of Al-Qaeda chief Ayman Al Zawahiri to Abu Musab Al Zarqawi, then Al-Qaeda leader in Iraq. Zawahiri said: “We are in a battle and more than half of this battle is taking place in the media.”
Four, after the Peshawar schools attack the National Action Plan has more or less filled the voids in our operational response to terrorist threat. However, gaps exit in the domain of soft-CT responses, which remain underutilised in Pakistan. Pakistan needs to evolve a comprehensive counterterrorism policy that balances the hard and soft aspects of counterterrorism. The soft-CT strategy should involve a Countering Violent Extremism (CVE) component comprising individual-focused de-radicalisation and environment-focused counter-radicalisation efforts.
In the end, it is also important to look at how the state is treating the younger segment of our population. Do we have a youth policy that gives younger people a sense of empowerment and directs them towards a bright future? As long as the state does not own its youth, such tendencies will grow further in an environment (online and offline) that remains susceptible to extremist causes.
The writer is an associate research fellow at the International Centre for Political violence and Terrorism Research (ICPVTR) of the S Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS), Singapore.
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