Abstract
This paper is an effort to critically evaluate Pakistan’s counterterrorism strategy, based on both military and non-military means. The paper argues that the counterterrorism strategy of Pakistan has proved ineffective and counter-productive to combat the homegrown threat of terrorism, unleashed by militant sectarian groups, following the Takfiri ideology. Although Pakistan’s Military claims that the latest on-going security operations, Zarb-e-Azb in North Waziristan and Khyber-II in Khyber Agency, have succeeded in clearing most of the area, however, the matter of fact is that the security operations have not considerably damaged the ability of terrorists, particularly the Tehrik Taliban Pakistan (TTP), to plan and execute terrorist attacks. The terrorists’ network, their strength and structure have until now remained intact. The key to longterm prevention of terrorism, beyond security operations for clearing any area of the militants, is to discontinue the supply chain of terrorists. This requires the creation of a new counter-extremism religious narrative, which will help re-formulate a concrete and effective counter-terrorism strategy of Pakistan to ensure domestic peace and security.
Highlights
On 13th May 2015, the Ismaili Shiite community was targeted in Safoora Goth, Karachi, in one of the most organized and ruthless terrorist attacks in the history of the city, killing 43 commuters.[1]
An analysis of the current counterterrorism strategy of Pakistan exposes that it has proven less effective in combating the threat of terrorism by eradicating the terrorist network of home-grown militant Jihadi and sectarian outfits
It mainly focuses on ad hoc and reactive approaches by using both the excessive use of military force in the tribal areas, and coercive legal framework under the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA) to contain terrorism
Summary
On 13th May 2015, the Ismaili Shiite community was targeted in Safoora Goth, Karachi, in one of the most organized and ruthless terrorist attacks in the history of the city, killing 43 commuters.[1]. Since the counterterrorism strategy of Pakistan has until now remained ineffective for destroying the network of domestic terrorist groups, its success mainly depends upon taking strong measures to neutralize violent extremist ideology that creates ideologically-motivated hardcore terrorists. These measures include: reforming madrasas that have become the nurseries of extremism and terrorism; establishing punitive regime by improving the criminal justice system and further strengthening the anti-terrorism regime; introducing reforms in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA); introducing reforms in the public education sector that promotes religious hatred and enemy image of neighboring countries; and the most important one is redefining country’s India-centric national security paradigm, which embarks upon seeking support from militant Jihadi groups. The last part gives recommendations to devise an effective counterterrorism strategy of Pakistan
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