Pakistan's High Commissioner to Britain, Dr. Maleeha Lodhi has said an internationally agreed approach is needed to fight terrorism and counter extremism that deals with 'causes' as well as 'symptoms.' She was addressing a seminar held recently here on "Politics and Terrorism" at a leading London Think Tank, the Royal United Services Institute for Defense and Security Studies (RUSI). Terrorism, she said, knows no borders and poses a challenge to all humanity. "Terrorism has no faith and is abhorrent to all religions and beliefs." Dr. Maleeha Lodhi called for addressing underlying causes or factors that create breeding grounds for violent extremism. She enumerated the counter-terrorism campaign conducted by Pakistan and the various ways in which legal, administrative and financial controls had been strengthened to build capacity. She also elaborated on the 5-pronged strategy being pursued to counter extremism. She quoted President General Pervez Musharraf as saying that confronting terrorism and extremism required different strategies especially as the latter involved dealing with a state of mind. Military means, she said, were not sufficient to fight terror. Law enforcement and good intelligence remain central to both punitive and preventive measures. But in the longer term, causes and conditions that breed, encourage and contribute to terrorism and violent extremism must not only be objectively identified but also substantively addressed. In this context, she outlined the perspective of Muslim countries that translate root causes to mean addressing issues of foreign occupation, denial of self-determination, political and economic injustices as well as cultural and social marginalization. In a report circulated today, the Associated Press said Dr. Lodhi detailed Pakistan's five-point strategy to address extremism, referring to actions related to banned militant organization, proscription of hate literature, preventing the misuse of loudspeakers in mosques, madrassah (school) reform, and instituting curriculum reforms in general education.
