Daily Times

Three years after the Army Public School (APS) attack, the National Action Plan (NAP), formulated by civil and military leadership to counter terrorism remains largely unimplemented. One of the main points of NAP was about crackdown on hate-speech. Analysts say the open practice of hate speech against minority communities witnessed during the Faizabad sit-in by religious extremist groups last month was a blatant violation of the NAP.

“Civil and military leadership sat together and came up with a unanimous document for the first time after a series of meetings. If implemented properly, NAP has the potential to eradicate extremism,” senior political analyst Iftikhar Ahmad told Daily Times. He was of the opinion that the blame lies with federal and provincial governments for not making implementation of the NAP a priority.

“There has been no progress over registration of madrassas. Legislation to improve coordination between the intelligence agencies and steps for reforming the criminal justice system have not been taken either,” he lamented.

While commenting on the military courts’ performance, he said the parliament regrettably okayed the establishment of military courts in the wake of the APS tragedy, but now their working has been affected due to the inaction of the government. He said military officials complain that cases of militants are not being referred to the military courts by the civilian authorities concerned. This is perhaps because of the government’s disinterest in getting the terrorists convicted since it is too busy dealing with its political woes, he added.

Ahmad also criticised the government for not acting against extremist groups for hate speech during their sit-in in Islamabad last month and added that the activities of such organisations are a question mark on the implementation of the action plan.

In response to a question, he said educational reforms should be introduced at the earliest as part of a de-radicalisation plan because it is not just the madrassas that are producing extremists, but several students of liberal educational institutes have also been attracted to extremism in the past few years. The major hurdle in curriculum reforms is the fact that provinces have been made free to bring their own changes in the provincial curriculum after 18th amendment. Educational reforms ought to be uniform across the country otherwise it doesn’t serve the purpose, he added.

While suggesting solution to the extremism issue, Ahmad said the state needs to bring a counter-narrative but added that it won’t happen until rightists and extremist elements continue to hold important roles in media and politics. “Leftists need to organise themselves so politics and activism of the left can be revived in the country and these hate-mongering extremists can be confronted,” he told Daily Times.

Former interior minister and Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Senator Rehman Malik said the government failed to introduce Madrassa Act and take steps to bridge the communication gap between agencies which was decided at the time of NAP formation.

“For some reasons the government completely blocked the process of madrassa reforms and regularisations,” he told Daily Times.

Malik said the amendment in Army Act to establish military courts took place swiftly, but the part about improving coordination between governments and intelligence agencies for delivery of intelligence information on time is yet to be implemented. “This is why terror attacks continue to take place.”

Malik said National Counter-terrorism Authority (NACTA) was not operational at the moment and the prime minister did not even hold mandatory meetings of the body. About the ongoing activities of extremist organisations, the former interior minister said it was the government’s responsibility to ensure that no banned outfits operate under a different name, adding that the authorities concerned had failed to do their job in this regard. He said the government’s ‘relaxed attitude’ towards extremist groups would result in instability in the country.

Activist Jibran Nasir said no inquiry report had been made public even three years after the APS attack, and added that both government and opposition ignored the issue of NAP implementation. He lashed out at the government for removing names of Tehreek-e-Labbaik leaders from Anti-Terrorism Act’s fourth schedule shortly after the Faizabad sit-in. “The sudden rise of these extremist organisations wouldn’t have been possible if the NAP was effective,” he added. Nasir further said people are booked for practicing hate speech but there have hardly been any convictions in such cases, and this says a lot about the implementation of NAP.

In response to a question, he said it was decided by civil and military leadership after APS that sympathisers and facilitators of terrorists would be denied space, but political leaders continue to form alliances with terror apologists in our ranks. He lamented that former TTP spokesman Ehsanullah Ehsan who was brought back and presented before media as a ‘reformed’ person did not face any trial.

While talking about steps needed for countering extremism, he said our books were filled with takfir (the act of declaring someone infidel), and all such literature needed to be banned if we are to carry a de-radicalisation plan. He said hate speech in all its forms should be countered and that madrassas should be brought on board for the purpose of introducing reforms meant for de-radicalisation.

Published in Daily Times, December 18th 2017.