Talks and terrorism do not go hand-in-hand: Pakistan

Pakistan on Friday underscored the importance of dialogue as part of efforts to eliminate terrorism, saying that the process should be pursued in good faith to accomplish the objective.
“Dialogue is not a tool of appeasement; it has to be pursued in good faith, as talks and terrorism do not go hand-in-hand,” Khan told a panel of the UN Alliance of Civilisation at which he also outlined Pakistan’s strategy to combat the scourge.
Launched in 2005 through the initiative of Spain and Turkey, under the auspices of the United Nations, the Alliance of Civilisations seeks to promote better cross-cultural relations worldwide.
The envoy said Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s government has started a peace dialogue as it was a constitutional obligation to relieve people from fear, protect their life and honour, and ensure their safety and security.
“To achieve this objective, dialogue in different forms must be given a chance,” he said, while participating in a discussion on “Strengthening International Cooperation in Preventing Terrorism” held in the alliance’s Group of Friends.
Khan pointed out that Pakistan had always called for a comprehensive approach to eliminate terrorism, comprising deterrence, development and dialogue.
Deterrence was necessary to impede, impair, isolate and incapacitate the terrorist threat, he said. Development helped meet basic human needs, build community resilience, and prevent terrorism, he said, adding dialogue was equally important.
“Those who are willing to renounce violence should be brought back to national and societal mainstreams,” the Pakistani envoy told the group.
“No religion, no faith, no philosophy sanctions violent extremism,” Khan said. “Criminality cannot be legitimised in the name of a religion or ideology. It is therefore our collective responsibility to delegitimize the skewed and vicious narratives of terrorists and put the full weight of our collective, global experience to work for peace and harmony within communities and nations and among nations.”
In that endeavour, he called for banishing stereotyping, because conflation of terrorism, a vile crime against humanity, with Islam or any other religion, will be the most serious mistake of this century.