Countering terrorism through innovative ideas

Karachi
Social media has emerged as a major source of spreading ideologies philosophies, and even terrorist groups like ISIS propagate their extreme views through the digital medium to brainwash people, especially the youth.
Pakistan has also been a grave victim of terrorism, sacrificing thousands of civilians and soldiers in the war on terrorism. The country either is known as a victim of terrorism or alleged to produce terrorists, but the world hasn’t realised the efforts being made by Pakistanis to counter extremism and terrorism.
Jaffer Abbas Mirza, the head of outreach of the HIVE Karachi, presented these views on Friday while talking to The News during a full-day activity ‘Pakistan Fights Back’ at the Rangoonwala Community Centre.
“We have been countering terrorism for a long time, but the efforts were scattered enough to create any significant impact,” he said. “The Pakistan Youth Alliance and the Khudi Pakistan -- two counterterrorism organisations -- teamed up to create the HIVE Karachi which is dedicated to countering extremism though research, training, public activities and social innovation.”
He believed that it was the need of the hour for all the local organisations to raise an integrated force against extremisms and violence.
“We are trying to bring 200 organisations onto the same page which are working on the same agenda.”
The event observed a hackathon where participants presented artistic and innovative ideas of countering terrorism before the judges. Five teams out of the 10 were shortlisted and they will go through another round where three teams will be finalised.
“The three winning teams will be incubated and we will provide them financial assistance to translate their ideas into practicality,” Mirza said.
A team presented a captivating idea of initiating Amn Baat Cheet Dhaba (ABCD) in Lyrai to introduce a space for sharing possible solutions against violence and terrorism.
“We are also working on a social innovation lab to promote peace and harmony thorough digital mediums.”
Twenty projects that had been incubated through the Social Innovation Lab were presented at the event.
Mirza said Sufism had cultivated love and interfaith harmony in Pakistan but a bunch of ignorant people pushed the society into the fire of extremism.
“We have also produced a documentary on famous Sufi Bulleh Shah to convey the message how religion was perceived by our ancestors and how peaceful they were.”
Local artists presented their artworks depicting the timeline of terrorist attacks in Pakistan and paintings portraying its grave consequences on society. Blood samples of martyrs were also shown to pay them a tribute.
“It was the last day of our six-month-long campaign. The Swiss consulate, the GIZ and some other organisations have offered us to stage more activities in the megalopolis.”