Terrorism and Pakistan’s response:

Terrorism is considered a byproduct of ‘extremism’ which, once violent,

transcends into terrorism.
Extremism in both violent and non-violent forms is caused by
radicalisation and an individual becomes radicalised once he/she loses
‘mental equilibrium’.
Philosophical nature of terrorism:
Human ‘equilibrium’ is dependent upon ‘monism’ or ‘dualism’.
Monism school believes that everything related to our experiences is
rooted in ‘one universal attribute’, which can be ‘body’ (material) or ‘mind’
(non-material).
The dualists believe in the attributability of human experience to the two
‘contrasting’ notions of body and mind.
View of western thinkers:
 Western philosophy since Socrates is dominated by dualism.
 In theocracy, scholars add ‘spirituality’ as a third attribute to human
experiences. And to be in equilibrium, an individual must have
synergy in all three attributes…body, mind and spirit.
 Although different schools of Islamic thought especially Sufism
challenge this assertion giving preeminence to spirit and mind.
What is radicalism:
Radicalisation hence is loss of equilibrium and moving away from collective
consensus like peaceful co-existence with other religions and sects, abiding
by the Constitution and laws or believing in the national unity across fault-
lines.
Basis Of Radicalism:
Point
Religion
1
Point
Ethnicity
2
Manifestation of radicalization:
Radicalisation manifested in violent extremism is considered terrorism.
Types of Violent Extremism:
  At Individual level:
Individual might have psychological propensities for terrorism
based mainly upon misunderstanding of religious percepts, sense of
deprivation, vengeance, distorted sense of identity, low self and social
esteem, quest for seeking glory/martyrdom, and/or financial
incentives etc.
 At Organization level:
At organisational level, the use of terrorism is motivated by
political goals, considered more efficiently achievable through the use
of violent means. Violence is also inspired by the conviction that the
adversary (state) is not legitimate (read un-Islamic). Violence is also
committed for gaining recognition, staying relevant, or psycho-social
predilections and obsession of leadership with violence, etc.
 At environmental level:
At environmental level, political domination of one group over
the rest, power grab to establish puritanical version of an ideological
state, glorification and martyrdom, considering resistance as
religious obligations etc are some of the main drivers of terrorism.
However, these individual, organisational and environmental factors
overlap in what is called ‘the feedback loop’ to inspire, sustain and
motivate terrorism.
Counterterrorism methods adopted mainly by the states:
States do have to respond to the cited three levels of terrorism through
their counterterrorism (CT) strategies targeting each level.