south-asian-militant-groups-and-global-jihad-in-2015
south-asian-militant-groups-and-global-jihad-in-2015
south-asian-militant-groups-and-global-jihad-in-2015
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QUILL IAM<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
Reform laws on blasphemy, as they strengthen the stance of<br />
Islamist extremists.<br />
Undertake research based on public health frameworks to<br />
<strong>in</strong>vestigate the causes <strong>and</strong> consequences of violent <strong>and</strong> non-violent<br />
extremism, follow<strong>in</strong>g new <strong>in</strong>itiatives to treat violent extremism as<br />
a public health issue. The WHO’s Violence Prevention Alliance has<br />
recently provided a public health framework to <strong>in</strong>vestigate <strong>and</strong><br />
underst<strong>and</strong> the causes <strong>and</strong> consequences of violence. These<br />
<strong>in</strong>clude <strong>in</strong>dividual, relationship, community-based, <strong>and</strong> societal<br />
approaches to prevent violence. Extend<strong>in</strong>g such work to tackle<br />
violent radicalization <strong>and</strong> terrorism is a natural next step, though<br />
not yet done. Rout<strong>in</strong>e health surveys <strong>and</strong> censuses might ask about<br />
aspects of violent radicalization <strong>and</strong> group cohesion as relevant<br />
health <strong>and</strong> social issues, <strong>and</strong> not only as crim<strong>in</strong>al justice issues 2 .<br />
This is crucial <strong>in</strong> an environment of widespread violence, where<br />
there are low levels of social <strong>and</strong> political education.<br />
Foster <strong>and</strong> facilitate counter-narratives <strong>in</strong> countries where<br />
Islamism as an ideology is more potent, such as <strong>in</strong> Pakistan <strong>and</strong><br />
Afghanistan. The ma<strong>in</strong> risk beh<strong>in</strong>d the power of the IS br<strong>and</strong> is that<br />
its narratives on apostasy (takfiri) will go ma<strong>in</strong>stream <strong>and</strong><br />
exacerbate the sectarianism that is presently grow<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong> South<br />
Asia. This is IS's market niche, <strong>and</strong> given that Jundullah - a<br />
traditionally sectarian, newly declared ally of IS - has claimed<br />
credit for the Shia mosque bomb<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong> January <strong>2015</strong>, as well as<br />
several other attacks on the Shia community, it is <strong>in</strong>creas<strong>in</strong>gly a<br />
theme that is com<strong>in</strong>g to the fore, <strong>and</strong> one that counter-narratives<br />
could address specifically.<br />
Encourage cooperation between the states of India, Pakistan, <strong>and</strong><br />
Afghanistan to defeat the new transnational terrorist force of the<br />
Islamic State, which differs ideologically from entrenched <strong>and</strong><br />
established terrorist <strong>groups</strong> <strong>in</strong> the region. Shar<strong>in</strong>g of <strong>in</strong>formation,<br />
<strong>and</strong> social <strong>and</strong> political <strong>in</strong>itiatives between border<strong>in</strong>g states, would<br />
reduce the threat of extremism spill<strong>in</strong>g over from one nation to<br />
another.<br />
T o C i v i l Society C o m m unities <strong>and</strong> Gro ups :<br />
<br />
The threat to civil society activities <strong>and</strong> activists <strong>in</strong> Pakistan <strong>and</strong><br />
Afghanistan is becom<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong>creas<strong>in</strong>gly worry<strong>in</strong>g. Follow<strong>in</strong>g the<br />
murder of Sabeen Mahmud <strong>in</strong> April <strong>2015</strong>, we strongly encourage<br />
governments to assume responsibility for <strong>in</strong>creas<strong>in</strong>g the security<br />
of its citizens as well as to provide the <strong>in</strong>stitutional <strong>and</strong> f<strong>in</strong>ancial<br />
support to help develop <strong>in</strong>itiatives that create safe spaces for<br />
activism, engagement <strong>and</strong> debate, such as Mahmud’s The Second<br />
Floor (T2F).<br />
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