Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar on Thursday said the democratic government in Pakistan would continue to closely work with the international community to create a world free from bigotry, extremism and terrorism. She was addressing the Ministerial Meeting of the Global Counter Terrorism Forum (GCTF) held in Istanbul which was also attended among others by Turkish Foreign Minister Davutoglu and US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
Foreign Minister Khar said Pakistan alongwith its partners was working to devise innovative strategies to tackle the issue of global terrorism. She said the real challenge is to win the hearts and minds of people to address the issue in a comprehensive way and added that the democratic government of Pakistan is working hard to strengthen the criminal justice system. She said since the launching of the Forum in New York last September, GCTF's activities had covered considerable ground in both regional and thematic working groups. She said as one of the most affected country by terrorism, Pakistan is making every possible effort to root out this scourge from our society.
Khar said Pakistan was working with its partners for strengthening the criminal justice system, especially the investigation and prosecution sides. "We have instituted programmes for capacity building of investigators and prosecutors; securing crime scene, collecting evidence, upgrading forensic laboratories; improving prison management system and expanding de-radicalization programmes," she said. She also mentioned working on how intelligence inputs could be converted into evidence which can withstand judicial scrutiny.
Khar called for the need to address conditions that engender feelings of helplessness and deprivation among the people. She said, "We are evolving a robust narrative to counter the misleading agenda of violent extremists. We believe that education for all and creating economic opportunities for young people are most effective antidotes against spread of extremist ideologies." She mentioned that after the Swat operation, a de-radicalisation project known as "Sabaoon" was launched. "The success of this project gives us the confidence to launch more such projects. We, therefore, have started developing a database of people who underwent military training during the Afghan jihad and later."