Combating terrorism
WE take a dim view of the fact that the anti-militancy campaign, particularly the awareness drive, has run aground, primarily because of lack of commitment on the part of the government. The matter was highlighted in front page news in this paper yesterday.
No form of extremism can be combated only through force, much less extremism stemming from religious ideology. And while the country is still in the process of crafting a national counterterrorism strategy there is an accord of views across the board amongst law enforces, theorists and academia that the phenomenon can be addressed effectively only through a multi-pronged strategy that includes countering the ideological narratives of the militants. Since the present threat stems predominantly from religious extremists it is their narrative that must be countered. Regrettably, this is where the government's effort, conducting an effective awareness campaign, appears to be floundering.
One of the reasons for this is lack of involvement of the most important medium of conducting awareness programmes, particularly in the rural areas, the Imams of the mosques. We wonder why should the Imams, as the report makes out, refuse to give anti-militancy sermons to counter that of the extremists. This is indeed a matter of concern and the government must go into reasons as to why the Imams have declined to be participants in this campaign. Is it a failure on the part of the Islamic Foundation (IF), to communicate and impress the gravity of the issue effectively to the Imams? The IF and the government must reinforce the awareness campaign by impressing on the Imams the importance of their role in this matter.
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