DERADICALIZATION CHOICES & INITIATIVES IN PAKISTAN

DR TUGHRAL YAMINCIPS, NUST

DE-RADICALIZATION• DICTIONARY MEANING THE PRACTICE OF ENCOURAGING THOSE WITH EXTREME AND VIOLENT RELIGIOUS OR POLITICAL IDEOLOGIES TO ADOPT MORE MODERATE VIEWS• MY UNDERSTANDINGHELPING A FORMER MILITANT POSITIVELY TO REINVENT HIMSELF AND TO REDESIGN HIS LIFE TO HELP HIM REINTEGRATE IN HIS SURROUNDING ENVIRONMENT WITH THE HELP OF

o THE STATEo THE SOCIETY AND o THE FAMILY

WHO FALL PREY TO RADICAL/MILITANT IDEOLOGIES

THOSE DISENCHANTED

WITH THE EXISTING STATE OF AFFAIRS

THOSE WHO ARE SOCIALLY

SIDELINED

THOSE WITH LITTLE OR NO STAKES IN

LIFE

THOSE CAUGHT IN THE WEB OF

POVERTY

RADICAL IDEOLGIES ARE ATTRACTIVE BECAUSE:

• THEIR SLOGANS ARE CATCHY• THEY PROVIDE AN ESCAPE FROM THE

MISERIES OF THE PRESENT EXISTENCE• THEY PROMISE ADVENTURE, HEROISM AND

HEAVEN IN THE HEREAFTER• ITS REVENGE AGAINST THE SOCIETY

MENTAL STATE OF THOSE WHO GIVE UP ARMED STRUGGLE

• ARE CONFUSED• HAVE LITTLE PURPOSE LEFT

IN LIFE• REMAIN IN DENIAL & TAKE

THEIR TIME RECONCILING WITH THE CHANGED CIRCUMSTANCES

• HAVE ALL THE LIKELIHOOD OF RETURNING TO THE FOLD OF THEIR ORGANIZATIONS IF THESE CONTINUE TO EXIST

Former Taliban fighters at a government peace and reconciliation ceremony to lay down arms in Jalalabad, capital of Nangarhar province on Jan 19, 2014. (Photo / AFP)

CHOICES BEFORE THE GOVERNMENT & THE SOCIETY

REINTEGRATE THEM INTO THE SOCIETY

LEAVE THEM TO THEIR DEVICES

DERADICALIZATION PROCESS

• DETOXIFICATION• INCULCATING A NEW URGE FOR LIFE• TEACHING SKILLS TO GENERATE THEIR OWN

WEALTH• GETTING THEM JOBS• MONITORING THE FORMER RADICALS

Pakistani men who worked for the Taliban attend a class at Mishal, an army-run rehabilitation center in Pakistan's Swat Valley, on July 5, 2011. This and similar centers are trying to re-educate men taken in by the Taliban, who ruled Swat before the military drove out the insurgents in 2009.

Classes such as this one at the Mishal center in Swat on July 5, 2011, teach former jihadis skills that will help them return to their families and be productive members of society.

Learning a trade ... former militants study electronics at the Swat valley centre. Photograph: Mian Kursheed/Reuters Mian Kursheed / Reuters/REUTERS

Is this the way to beat extremism? A sewing class in a deradicalisation centre in the Swat valley, Pakistan. Photograph: Mian Kursheed/Reuters Mian Kursheed / Reuters/REUTERS

Former members of the Taliban at the Naway Sahar (New Dawn) rehabilitation centre.Image Credit: Faryal Leghari/Gulf News

Sabaoon, another center for re-educating former militant recruits, was held by the Taliban before the Pakistan army took it over during the offensive to clear the Taliban from Swat.

WHAT NEXT?

• THESE YOUNG MEN NEED JOBS AND A PURPOSE IN LIFE

• THIS WILL ONLY BE POSSIBLE WITH THE HELP OF THE STATE AND THE SOCIETY

• REGULAR MONITORING IS AMUST• A RELAPSE MUST BE PREVENTED AT ALL COSTS

Q & A