Reema Shaukat
Pakistan has been victim of menace of terrorism for more than a decade. More than 80,000 Pakistanis have lost their lives in this war. Somehow militants and terrorist have found education as a soft target to deter the resolve of people against terrorism. For the past couple of years many educational institutions including schools, colleges and universities have been targeted by terrorists and students of any age were their soft target. In one of such incidents which is considered as the deadliest was carried out on 16 December 2014 and Army Public School in Peshawar was targeted. In this heinous act of terrorism, seven terrorists affiliated with the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) conducted an attack on the school and this was the lethal terrorist attack ever to occur in Pakistan in which 144 people lost their lives including 132 innocent students, ranging between eight and eighteen years of age. A rescue operation was launched by Special Services Group (SSG) of army, who killed all seven terrorists who were foreign nationals and rescued 960 people. The attack sparked widespread reactions in Pakistan, receiving condemnations from public, government, political and religious entities, journalists, and other members of Pakistani society. On the second day after the attack, then Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had revoked a six-year moratorium on the death penalty in terrorism-related cases.
On 6 January 2015, both houses of the Parliament unanimously passed the “Constitution Act 2015(Twenty-First Amendment)”, which was signed into law by the then President Mamnoon Hussain on 7 January 2015. The National Action Plan (NAP) was prepared by the All Parties Conference in consultation with the military. The reaction was natural, demanding corrective and punitive action. The parliament abdicated its right in favor of the APC, which drafted the 21st amendment to the constitution. The parliament approved it without much of debate. If there were any dissenting voices, they preferred not to attend the session. The amendment has given the twenty point National Action Plan to root out terrorism from Pakistan which foresees establishment of special courts for speedy trial of terror suspects and a crackdown on jihadi and sectarian outfits. These courts will crack all terrorists whether they carry out attacks on military installations or civilians. Key points in the plan are action against proscribed outfits, reform of religious seminaries and the repatriation of Afghan refugees.
Almost all segments of society have welcomed the National Action Plan adopted with a consensus by the political leadership to rid the country of the scourge of terrorism. Under the plan, the Karachi operation would be taken to its logical conclusion, while there would be zero tolerance for militancy in Punjab. In Baluchistan, the provincial government would be empowered to start political reconciliation with complete ownership by all stakeholders. However, action against terror financing, foreign funding of seminaries, banned organizations and sectarian groups, hate speeches, and madrassah reforms are some of the elements of NAP that have long been identified as performing slowly but over the years Pakistan has been much successful in restoring its soft image to the international world despite many hurdles and constraints.
Pakistan is passing through exceptionally unusual circumstances and the situation warrants clear, bold and firm decisions to deal with the risk of terrorism, especially the threat of the TTP and many other such miscreant organizations. It is mentionable that Pakistan’s Armed Forces have almost defeated the terrorists, particularly of the TTP by clearing the areas of North Waziristan Agency by military operation Zarb-e-Azb and later Operation Radd-ul-Fassad. To redress the gap between the perceived vs real origins of violent extremism, deliberate response strategies and to formulate a counter policy at the national, regional and global levels should be the prime objective. So given the changing dynamics of today’s world, violent extremism has become a monumental challenge.
Undoubtedly, Peshawar school tragedy was a final wake up call to the whole nation, and Pakistan firmly stands that the barbarity of the terrorists will not be tolerated any more. Pakistan is in the state of new warfare, being waged by the Armed Forces and intelligence agencies against terrorists. Hence, all segments of nation must be on one page, which is necessary to implement the National Action Plan which itself is essential to win this war against terrorism. In fact, the menace of terrorism cannot be tackled with political expediencies, but with clear, firm and decisive policies. As on the tragic killing of 132 innocent school children, it was decided that terrorists and their facilitators should be dealt with zero tolerance. It is pertinent that efforts be made in forming narratives against violent extremism which are based on ethics and a culture of pluralism and peaceful coexistence. Though Pakistan is able to curb militancy in almost 80 percent of country but still there are miscreant elements which often carry out attacks especially on educational institutions or public places to create fear among masses but they forget that the resolute and resilience of Pakistani nation is above anything and they in any case will make their homeland free from all types of extremist rudiments.
