State policies breeding extremism: ANP leader

ISLAMABAD: Former Senator and Awami National Party leader Afrasiab Khattak has said that state policies need to be corrected as in the presence of our Afghan policy, peace cannot prevail.  

Mr Khattak was addressing the 2nd day session of 19th Conference on “Sustainable Development: envisaging the future together” organised by Sustainable Development Policy Institute here on Wednesday. 

The ANP leader said that Pakistan is a security state where extremism is still flourishing due to wrong policies of the state. He said that Pakistan is under severe debt burden, which is growing year by year. 

“We are putting huge resources in breeding extremism,” he said, adding that during the 80s, Madrassas were established which contributed to extremism in the country. 

He said that collateral damage is not being calculated in case of Operation Zarb-e-Azab. He asked who is responsible for the destruction of Miran Shah Bazar where 11,000 shops are located.  

He said that ruling elite does not allow the establishment of local government system, as it does not suit them. He called for devising a local government mechanism to implement it in letter and spirit. He said Sustainable Development Goals cannot be implemented in a country where there is no rule of law as well as accountability and transparency. 

He said that the state system has limitations and social priorities are floating. Being part of pre-budget consultation, he said, he found nothing concrete about social sector. 

Fredrick Atieno, a consultant from Kenya, said that unless migration dynamics and climate change are fully prioritised in our development strategies and implemented in an integrated manner, it will be very difficult to achieve sustainable development for Kenya and other countries.

Dr Aliya H Khan, former Dean of Social Sciences, Quaid-i-Azam University, said that Pakistan is fully equipped to deal with international migration but internal migration and its benefits should be more focused.  She wanted to introduce registration process for migration within the country like India. 

Thakur Hassan Akhtar Rizvi from Pakistan, said that climate change is one of the exacerbating factors of internal migration. He stressed the need for census to understand dynamics of migration.  

Dr Qasim Jan, former Vice-Chancellor Quaid-i-Azam University, said that high amount of carbon dioxide and greenhouse gases are the primary causes of global warming resulting in changes in rainfall patterns, dying of species, glaciers melt, etc. He said the impact of global warming is more in developing countries, as developing countries are not prepared to bear its aftereffects. 

Social activist Marvi Sirmed said that due to security challenges both India and Pakistan are not able to focus on actual economic challenges. She called upon Saarc to play its enhanced role. She said the trade between India and Pakistan stopped due to dictatorship in Pakistan and Saarc needs to improve its charter to make it align with people’s aspirations. 

Shafqat Munir from SDPI regarded the mindset of people to be the core of the discrimination of minorities. The narrow mindedness of Muslim community leads to the exploitation of minority rights. 

The panel was concluded with the recommendation to introduce an umbrella subject of religious studies instead of Islamic studies to promote interfaith harmony within the communities.  Earlier, Dr Abid Qaiyum Suleri, Executive Director, SDPI, said that the conference provides a platform to evaluate and learn what we have done wrong to avoid these mistakes in future. He stressed the importance of cooperation for the development and said that today challenges are global and cannot be solved individually.