Rational approach to stopping terrorism

There is no simple or straight forward answer that can get rid of terrorism without any casualties. Some of the measures that Pakistan can take to get rid of terrorism (in my opinion) are:

• Eliminate the root of terrorism:

Terrorism cannot be fought like any other war. It’s not just pure numbers of terrorists that we have to defeat in order to get rid of it. As long as the root causes of terrorism prevail, there will always be more people, more terrorists who take up arms in place of those who died for the cause. Pakistan as a nation must first solve the root causes of terrorism.

• Education:

Education is a primary solution to terrorism. The government should educate the people, and provide free and quality education to young children specially for the poor and less fortunate families that cannot afford to send their sons and daughters to schools.

• Understand terrorists:

The solution is to find a terrorist does not feel guilty about taking innocent lives. In many cases it is religious extremism, but not always. There can be a number of causes and in order to stop terrorism, we have to understand what it is that drives these terrorists and fix these problems so that more terrorists won’t rise.

• Solve poverty and hunger:

Unemployment is a major issue. Government should work on solving poverty and hunger by providing more job opportunities all over Pakistan. This will improve the living conditions of many people.

• Utilize media:

With the proper utilization of Pakistani media, people can be made aware of the horror that is terrorism and how to avoid falling into their traps. They should raise awareness specially in backwards areas that Islam is a religion of peace and love and it in no way condones violence of any kind.

• Negotiate:

In order to cope with terrorism, our government should neutralize the moderate terrorists through reconciliation by offering them general pardon and asking them to renounce terrorism. Even extremist insurgents can be offered mediation. Nevertheless, those militants who reject the offer could be fought through military operations.

• Proper supervision on religious madrassas:

In order to stop religious extremism, there should be proper law and order for the regulation of madrassas specially in backwards areas of Pakistan where religious extremism is the highest. Only madrassas with proper permission from the state should be allowed to operate.