Seeds of terrorism were sown in Pakistan long before Afghan conflict and war against terror: Speakers.

ISLAMABAD -- The seeds of terrorism were sown in Pakistan long before the Afghan conflict and the war against terror. Indecisiveness, uncertainty and procrastination by various governments allowed terrorist and extremist agendas from across the border to take root and flourish in different parts of the country, especially in Baluchistan, erstwhile FATA and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Once the Pakistani state abrogated its role as a provider of justice and security, the Taliban found their space and relevance and filled the vacuum that was created.

These were some of the recommendations that were put forward by speakers at the Islamabad Policy Research Institute's flagship series on Counter-Terrorism in Pakistan. The first moot of this series 'Counter-Terrorism Experience of Pakistan in Kinetic Domain: Lessons Learnt and Way Forward' analysed Pakistan's domestic counter-terrorism experience from a law enforcement lens. Practitioners and law enforcement representatives; Former National Coordinator, National Counter Terrorism Authority; Former Director General, Institute for Strategic Studies, Research and Analysis, National Defence University; Former Additional Inspector General Police and senior officials from the Intelligence Bureau and Frontier Constabulary provided brief historical context of Pakistan's efforts against terrorism and enlightened the audience on the strategic and tactical steps taken by the country to deal with the threat of terrorism and violent extremism.

The participants described how Pakistan has transitioned from victims of terrorism to victors against terrorism, emphasizing on how important kinetic measures have been to defeat the menace and why is it important to formulate strategy to sustain the success against militant groups. Our policy makers must evaluate whether it is the right time to demilitarize the police force and call our armed forces back to the barracks. It was pointed out that the average time for counter-terrorism operations is 22-23 years, Sri Lanka took 27 years, but Pakistan achieved the impossible by doing so in 15 years.

Regarding Pakistan's current state of challenges and options vis-a-vis emerging scenarios post-kinetic operations, the speakers stressed the need for constant vigilance. It was highlighted that intelligence gathering is and should be the first line of defense. CT policies and strategies should not be developed in a vacuum. Rational, logical understanding of the context and realities on...