PESHAWAR - Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Governor Shaukatullah Engineer said that he was a strong believer of ‘one country one law,’ adding that the FCR should be gradually replaced with the extension of the constitution of Pakistan to the tribal belt.
He was addressing as a chief guest at a daylong workshop on critical analysis of the research conducted on Misgovernance-Radicalisation Nexus in Pakistan held at the University of Peshawar.
The workshop was the joint venture of Institute of Peace and Conflict Studies, UoP and Governance Institutes Network International (GINI).
Advisor GINI Danial Aziz, Senior Journalist Rahimullah Yusafzai, Vice Chancellor University of Peshawar Prof. Dr Muhammad Rasul Jan also attended the workshop.
The governor said that the people of FATA have been victim of terrorism for more than a decade and it is a high time that they should be provided with necessities of life at par with the rest of the country. “Deradicalisation occurs when a group or an individual no longer believes in a violent ideology,” he added.
He said that there are a number of causes attributed to the rise of extremism and the incidents of terrorist attacks within Pakistan. He said the radicalism is often seen as the result of sentiments of “extreme anti-westernism.” “Extremism is also attributed to negative attitudes towards the Pakistani regime, their policies and also towards political repression,” he added.
Talking to media men after the ceremony, the governor said that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif himself was looking after the dialogue process with Taliban, adding that he was optimistic of the success of the initiative taken by the government.
Advisor GINI Danial Aziz remarked that in the last ten years, the country has suffered 3,500 deaths and 78 billion dollars economic losses and now we must recognise that radicalisation and misgovernance have become a threat to our existence. He said that fact-based discussion and debate would help us shift the focus from counter terrorism based on military options to counter radicalisation based on civil policy options.
While unveiling the study the representative of GINI shared that people FATA, PATA and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa were the target audience of the research.
He added that research has linked radicalisation to the absence of political representativeness, economic opportunities and human rights observance in FATA while in Malakand the low literacy rate, weakness in performance of elected representatives and ineffective delivery of justice services has led to drive and support militancy. In KP high level of perceived corruption among line departments and legislators as well as breakdown in FIR registration by police have found to fuel radical attitude, revealed the study.
Vice Chancellor UoP Dr Muhammad Rasul Jan in his introductory remarks said that due to the misgovernance, we are finding our country at the crossroads of history where the campaign against the state and its fundamental institutions is on the rise.
Senior Journalist and Analyst Rahimullah Yusafzai underlined the need for conducting such researches in the universities of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. He differed with the term lawless tribal areas used in the study and said that laws like the FCR exist there but there was a strong need for their implementation.
He added that indigenous studies on the local problems was need of time and urged the need for carrying out updated study on important issues like the drone victims, while on the other hand the state institutions and civil society should carry out measures to de-radicalise the local population especially the youth of FATA, PATA and KP.