Daily Times

There would be issues surrounding identifying extremism and political violence at higher education institutions. Universities have to develop systems and policies for ‘preventing and identifying violent extremism’, while a significant number have to develop close cooperation and collaboration with state counter-terrorism policies raising potential issues of academic freedom. There is a possibility that universities, lecturers and students may come under political and legal pressures over the content of terrorism courses or accusations of ‘radicalisation’ on campus. These pressures can be and sometimes are resisted, but that they have on occasion effectively narrowed the scope of academic freedom in practice with the danger that a further chilling effect follows in their wake.

The psychology of extremism leading to radicalisation and then completed with an act of terrorism has received a great deal of academic interest because it does not only have physical consequences, but also a huge psychological impact on those directly affected as well as the rest of society. Consequently, it is very important to gain a better understanding of extremist behaviour found in the university students in order to counter future threats as a way to protect society.

To redress this gap, higher education institutes and universities have to bring together scholars from diverse disciplines working on issues related to extremism and radicalisation in students across the universities. Universities may have to consider extremism and militancy in students as both political discourse — addressed to local, regional, and international concerns — and lived experience. How have particular university students been incorporated into extremism, and what are the effects of this on social and political life? How has the label of ‘radicalisation on campuses’ allowed universities to achieve more domestic security goals? What is the experience of extremism for ordinary student? What is the relationship between religion and extremism in our national context? Theoretically, what conceptual tools are available to us to develop a more critical approach to extremism in Universities?

Forensic psychiatrists and criminologists agree on certain features, which are commonly found in extremists, such as feeling alienated and victimised, having a strong devotion to their cause, and a lack of remorse

Problem in the development of extremist risk assessment is that there does not seem to be a single profile of a typical extremist so it is difficult to decide which factors to include. Distinctions between different forms of extremism lie in the underlying motivations and the methods employed in the completed act of terrorism. Terrorism can be carried out by an organised group, or by an individual.  Terrorists may have religious motives, whereby an individual believes that they have been divinely commanded to perform the violent act as their sacred duty. Alternatively, they may seek to achieve elevated status, or to attain the creation of a new state defined as nationalist-separatist terrorism. Forensic psychiatrists and criminologists agree on certain features, which are commonly found in extremists, such as feeling alienated and a victim of injustice; a strong devotion to their cause and a lack of remorse.

At present, few risk assessment guides exist that need to be identified in order to distinguish them from other forms of violent criminal behaviour. Risk assessment is very important to identify individuals at high risk of committing future violent acts. As a result, society’s concerns about trends of extremism seen in university students leading future terrorism will be reduced. Many different approaches to risk assessment have been developed for identifying historical, contextual and personality factors common to violent offenders. Structured professional judgement guide, which includes a defined set of risk factors is believe to increase the chance of identifying trends in extremism leading to future terrorism. Risk factors items are rated according to their presence in the subject.

Alternate approaches, such as unaided clinical judgement, which is an unstructured, flexible approach focusing on the individual, is often considered too subjective and, thus, lacking in validity and reliability. There are also actuarial methods, which rely on a small number of risk factors that remain static across different situations and people.  But these may be too rigid and ignore individual differences hence, the structured professional judgement approach offers a systematic yet flexible compromise.

It is cry of the time that an academic endeavour may be generated with hand on training of the leadership of higher educations which would help prepare and combat with progressing extremism and radicalisation seen among the youth of Pakistan and in seats of higher learning in Pakistan. HEC is sincerely considering efforts to control radicalisation in university students and staff as part of the government’s counter-terrorism strategy and is looking forward to universities to design programs and ideas to tackle the problem of terrorism at its roots, preventing people from supporting terrorism or becoming involved in extremism themselves.

Shifa Tameer-e-Millat University is taking the initiative over this national issue on priority basis and have decided to conduct a day long workshop for the leaders in higher education to discuss and identify plans to prevent and identify risk assessment methods that can help examine the problem of radicalisation and extremism in the various universities. This work shop would aim to guide all the Vice Chancellors of the Universities and Higher Education Institutions to formulate strategy and a screening instrument to protect the students from exposure to the extremist ideas. Over the years, ‘extremism’ has increasingly become a matter of political, public, and academic concern. Yet what exactly do we mean by ‘extremism’, and how does it apply in our regional context? Although research work has been investigating extremism around the globe a nation-wide, comparative, and interdisciplinary perspective has so far been lacking in Pakistan. It is precisely this perspective that is needed to develop a more robust theoretical and methodological framework to consider the political, historical and cultural particularities of ‘extremism’ trend seen in university students. This, in turn, will help us better understand how various students and other sub set of our populations have been drawn into the web of radicalisation and extremism.

The writer is Director of Quality Enhancement Cell Shifa Tameer-e-Millat University Islamabad, HOD Department of Behavioural Sciences STMU and Consultant Psychiatrist Shifa International Hospital

Published in Daily Times, October 1^st 2017.