Abstract
Of the several by-products of terrorism that have affected
the Pakistani state and society, the threat of violent
extremism is the most potent one. It has damaged the
country‟s tolerant cultural and religious ethos. The killing of
132 school children in Peshawar on 16 December last year
is a sobering reminder that extremism poses an existential
threat to Pakistan. To overcome the challenge of growing
extremism, Pakistan should introduce a national Countering
Violent Extremism (CVE) policy, in addition to the ongoing de-radicalization programmes in different parts of the
country. The CVE policy should comprise of individualfocused de-radicalization, and environment-focused
counter-radicalization strategies. In this regard, a contextual
understanding of the extremist challenge in Pakistan‟s
ethnically heterogeneous and religiously diverse society is
essential to formulate the right-kind-of CVE policies. In
Pakistan violent extremism is a multifaceted and multilayered phenomenon. Given the multifaceted scope and
magnitude of the problem, Pakistan needs to fight both the
reality and ideality of the challenge through a whole of
community approach. A joint state-society response is
indispensable for creating an environment that helps people
to resist the appeal of militant ideologies. The on-going
narrow-focused de-radicalization interventions in Pakistan
will gradually lose their efficacy, as long as a moderate
environment hostile to terrorism and militancy is not created
through a comprehensive national level CVE policy
Abdul Basit. (2015) Countering Violent Extremism: Evaluating Pakistan’s Counter-Radicalization and De-radicalization Initiatives, IPRI Journal, Volume-15, Issue-2.
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