- Islamabad International Counter-Terrorism Forum will be kicked off today
ISLAMABAD: The three-day Islamabad International Counter-Terrorism Forum (IICTF) will be kicked off here from Tuesday (today) and highlight Pakistan’s endeavours and achievements in the war against terror.
National Counter-Terrorism Authority (NACTA) is organising the forum which would also provide an ample opportunity to portray country’s positive and soft image and a nation of courage, perseverance and resilience who stood strong against all odds and eventually turned around the picture from victim to victor of terrorism.
Minister for Interior Affairs Ahsan Iqbal is expected to inaugurate the conference. Leading Pakistani and international experts, scholars, practitioners, think tanks and opinion makers in area of counter-extremism and terrorism are being brought together to deliberate on current situation and future challenges and response.
The target audience will be think tanks, academia and researchers relating to security, terrorism and counter violent extremism. The forum would also engage diplomats, governmental officials, lawmakers, politicians, United Nations agencies, international organisations, aid agencies, media, civil society and world community at large.
NACTA Coordinator Ihsan Ghani said that proceedings of the forum were organised into plenary and panel discussions which will be addressed by scholars and experts including practitioners in relevant fields. There would be nine sessions in all, three plenary sessions and 12 panel discussions.
At beginning of each day, one minute silence would be observed for victims of terrorism. The programme of the forum is designed in a way to build story of Pakistan as follows: story of courage, perseverance and resilience; united we stand; role of parliament, media, women and children and youth of Pakistan in fighting extremism and terrorism, and Pakistan’s role in countering extremism and terrorism at global and regional level.
The forum will present resilience and strengths of Pakistan including its march to progress, peace and prosperity. The theme for concluding plenary will be from victim to victor against terrorism which will showcase how Pakistan has overcome a long and dark decades of terrorist victimization and instead of letting the detractors define its identity, the country has risen up to single-mindedly pursue a combination of soft and hard measures to claim victory against terrorist outfits and eradicate extremism at its source.
In this plenary, Pakistan will show strength and perseverance of its people through its political leadership who stood united in dealing with the menace of extremism and terrorism and that Pakistan no longer to be treated as a victim of terrorism rather a country that has established its credentials as a victory against terrorism.
