Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar has said the real challenge in dealing with terrorism and extremism is to win the hearts and minds of the people.
Addressing the ministerial meeting of the Global Counter Terrorism Forum (GCTF) held in Istanbul on Thursday, she said eliminating conditions that gave way to feelings of helplessness and deprivation among the common people, giving a message of hope to misguided individuals and bringing them back into the national mainstreams were important elements in dealing with the international problem of terrorism.
She attached importance to education for all, and creating economic opportunities for the young as most effective antidotes against spread of extremist ideologies.
She gave an example of educating the people of Swat after an operation there, and said the de-radicalisation project, known as “Sabaoon” was very successful. “The success of this project gives us the confidence to launch more such projects,” she said.
About the people who underwent military training during the Afghan jihad and later, she said the government of Pakistan was developing a database of such people with a view to imparting vocational training in various trades enabling them to reintegrating into the society. “Already, more than 250 individuals have completed training and another 48 are still in vocational training institutes,” she told the audience.
Appreciating the activities of the GCTF since its launch in New York last September, she said GCTF activities had covered considerable ground in both regional and thematic working groups such that the member countries shared information on areas like criminal justice as well as for the rehabilitation of offenders of violent extremism.
She said Pakistan was working with its partners for strengthening the criminal justice system and had instituted programmes for capacity building of investigators and prosecutors, securing crime scenes, collecting evidence, upgrading forensic laboratories, improving prison management system and expanding de-radicalisation programmes.
She said Pakistan emphasised on strengthening criminal justice system due to the fact that fair prosecution and conviction of terrorists in the court of law would be more effective than eliminating them through innovative means as it has the potential to sow seeds of further extremism. She said the government was also working on how intelligence inputs could be converted into evidence to undergo judicial scrutiny.
Khar acknowledged the cooperation of the government of the United Arab Emirates in establishing the centre of excellence for Countering Violent Extremism (CVE) in Abu Dhabi, and said Pakistan looked forward to its formal launching in October this year.
The foreign minister also thanked the people of Turkey for the warm welcome and hospitality extended to the delegation from Pakistan.
Winning hearts can curb terrorism, says Khar
