Terrorism and religious extremism has become global concern especially after 9/11. In war against terrorism Pakistan has lost on socio, economic, cultural and educational grounds as well. This research study will examine the consequences of Terrorism and religious extremism with special reference to the case study of brutal Army Public School (APS) attack held in December 2014 in Peshawar Pakistan. The purpose of this study is to analyze the School attack by examining reasons and reactions both at national & international level. This research study will try to examine the consequences of Extremism and argues that communication strategies can be assimilated into policies as preventive measure to radicalize extremism. To investigate this, qualitative methodology has been used, based on in-depth interviews those will be conducted to provide comprehensive perspectives from field experts and practitioners, with defense analyst, religious scholars, political scientist, psychologists, and journalists affiliated with the same area

Dalib, Syarizan

Mustaqeem, Sundus

Ramli, Romlah

UUM Repository

PROCEEDINGS SMMTC POSTGRADUATE SYMPOSIUM 2018  SMMTC POSTGRADUATE SYMPOSIUM 2018 |131   INTRODUCTION: The smallest coffins are the heaviest and Pakistani nation have gone through this pain almost four years ago. There was a horrible incident occurred in the history of Pakistan in 2014 that actually pushed the researcher to work on extremism in Pakistan. Though there were a number of incidents and events happened before and after that attack those proved as thought provoking alarm for the researcher to fight against extremism and to put share in stopping the killings of innocent people in the name of religion; but this one proved as an eventual catastrophe.  On the morning of 16th December 2014 a brutal terrorist attack was directed on Army public school warsak road, Peshawar (the capital of the province Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of) Pakistan. The nature of attack included hostage taking, suicide bombing, spree killing and shooting, as per inter services public relations (ISPR) report seven terrorists entered the school around 10am, reached to the auditorium where school children were gathered for a ceremony and opened fire on them, after fifteen minutes SSG (special services group) team entered the school to start the rescue operation, 7 terrorists were killed by them and they managed to rescue many hostages. A total of around 150 people lost their lives in the attack including 132 children (Qureshi, Gulraiz & Shahzad, 2016).   The militants were recognized as, all of whom were foreign nationals, one Chechen, three Arabs and two Afghans. A rescue operation was launched by the Army’s Special (SSG) Special Forces, who killed all seven terrorists and rescued 960 people (Qayyum, 2015). Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) released a video claiming the responsibility of this attack, in giving clarifications to the attack, TTP's leader, Maulana Fazlullah told that "Our men Reasons & Reactions of Army Public School Attack and solution via Communication Strategies   Sundus Mustaqeem School of Multimedia Technology and Communication, Universiti Utara Malaysia  R. Ramli & S. Dalib School of Multimedia Technology Communication, Universiti Utara Malaysia         ABSTRACT: Terrorism and religious extremism has become global concern especially after 9/11. In war against terrorism Pakistan has lost on socio, economic, cultural and educational grounds as well. This research study will examine the consequences of Terrorism and religious extremism with special reference to the case study of brutal Army Public School (APS) attack held in December 2014 in Peshawar Pakistan. The purpose of this study is to analyze the School attack by examining reasons and reactions both at national & international level. This research study will try to examine the consequences of Extremism and argues that communication strategies can be assimilated into policies as preventive measure to radicalize extremism. To investigate this, qualitative methodology has been used, based on in-depth interviews those will be conducted to provide comprehensive perspectives from field experts and practitioners, with defense analyst, religious scholars, political scientist, psychologists, and journalists affiliated with the same area.  KEYWORDS: Religious Extremism, Terrorism, APS Attack, Communication Strategies PROCEEDINGS SMMTC POSTGRADUATE SYMPOSIUM 2018  SMMTC POSTGRADUATE SYMPOSIUM 2018 |132  attacked the school and killed children of army personnel - not civilians. They asked about their identity before killing them. These people will always be our target and we will kill them in the streets, markets, everywhere, it was their revenge against Operation Zarb e Azb; in which hundreds of Taliban fighters are thought to have died in North Waziristan and the nearby Khyber area (Qureshi, Gulraiz & Shahzad, 2016).   The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, also known as the Pakistani Taliban (TTP) is an extremist organization operating within the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) of northern Pakistan. TTP is an organization that poses a significant threat to Pakistani sovereignty and to the broader international community, and so far Pakistani military efforts to contain the TTP have been largely unsuccessful (Ernst, 2015).  This horrifying attack generated a gigantic reaction in all walks of life in Pakistan. The entire nation united together to express grief and solidarity over attack. From public to political figures, religious parties to defence analysts, media to government everyone condemned the attack. Moreover, many countries and international organizations condemned the attack and expressed their condolences. Aljazeera News reported on 17th December 2015, “according to the South Asia Terrorism Portal, December 16 attack on the school in Peshawar wasn't the first to target school children, more than 20,000 civilians have been killed in attacks by armed groups in Pakistan between 2003 and 2015. According to a report from the Global Coalition to Protect Education from Attack, at least 838 schools in Pakistan were targeted between 2009 and 2012 (Briggs, B.2015).  Most of the extremist groups in Pakistan have particular goals aimed against other countries or other sects but some extremists groups like TTP is most interested in fighting against the Pakistani state. Considering the TTP’s primary goal is to destabilize the Pakistani state and implement nationwide Sharia law, it is in the government’s interest to address the expanding TTP threat (Ernst 2015). Within this context, the study is extremely significant as it will prove as one step ahead not only to further highlight and condemn but to investigate the Peshawar attack even more; as the wounds of the effected families still needs to be filled. Moreover, the study might explore new arena to examine such incidents and to lessen violent extremism while spreading the wave of peace and harmony to have a balanced society through communication strategies. The study will try to argue that such incidents might happen due to the gap or lack of proper Communication between army personal & government with the extremist groups. So if appropriate communication strategies are implemented Pakistani society might get success in minimizing violent extremism.  Pakistan one of the worse victim states:  In war against terrorism Pakistan has reached to an alarming stage. Pakistan has lost more men in war against terrorism than any other country in the world, and not just men, we have lost our women and kids as well; and it’s not easy at all to see the blood sheds of kids, the blood sheds of innocent school going children; as we unfortunately witnessed in Army Public School (APS) attack. Violent extremism and sectarian issue in Pakistan is becoming a major destabilizing factor in the country’s political, social, and religious and security order. While causing unrest, disorder and violence in society, the sectarian conflict in Pakistan for the last many years resulted into thousands of deaths from suicide attacks, bomb blasts, assassinations and other terrorist acts. Pakistan's role in the War on Terror as a front line Ally is a widely discussed topic among policy-makers of various countries, political analysts and international delegates around the world. Pakistan has simultaneously received allegations of harbouring and aiding terrorists and commendation for its antiterrorism efforts. PROCEEDINGS SMMTC POSTGRADUATE SYMPOSIUM 2018  SMMTC POSTGRADUATE SYMPOSIUM 2018 |133  APS Attack was the deadliest terrorist attack ever to occur in Pakistan, surpassing the 2007 Karachi bombing. According to various news agencies and commentators, the nature and preparation of the attack was very similar to that of the Beslan school hostage crisis that occurred in the North Ossetia–Alania region of the Russian Federation in 2004 (Qayyum, 2015).  The researcher was constantly taking the numerous terrorist attacks on her nerves but ASP Attack pushed her to work on violent extremism. The researcher started thinking a lot of questions; why do terrorist attacks keep on happening? Who is responsible for them? How does the notion of extremism help on understanding these attacks? Could someone counter the rise of violent extremism and manage to prevent violent attacks. So, this is how the idea of reviewing violent extremism with the relatively new concept to deal this entire critical situation through communication strategies, (particularly human communication) arose in her mind. This study reflects not only the researcher’s interest in saving Pakistan from extremism and sectarianism but also to find out the different academic interests in the same area as speculative. METHODOLOGY: This research attempts to analytically examine the important varying aspects of violent extremism and the causes of APS attack in Pakistan. The purpose of this study is to learn that how the reflection of communication strategies within Government &Army Leadership if practice will provide us a gateway towards better change by decreasing the chance of violent extremism. In order to answer the research questions, Methodology section works as back bone of the study to analyse the gist of the research properly. This study will try to explore and investigate this wide term of violent extremism from impact to consequences, causes to solutions and try to seek its possible solutions via Communication Strategies.  This research will base on in depth interviews from Pakistani informants and will try to explore their knowledge and understanding about tackling rather fighting war against extremism. Qualitative interview was an approach which facilitated to explore different nations, cultures, countries, societal problems and solutions. Moreover, it helped the researcher to analyse the similar or different viewpoints of the informants about concerning issue (Rubin & Rubin, 1995). It is important to consider the complexity of interviewing as a way of making your data (Richards, 2015). Interviews were just like directed conversation (Lofland & Lofland, 1995) where as a comprehensive interview gave detail information about the topic from the interviewee who had pertinent knowledge (Charmaz, 2006).  Informants:  The Pakistani informants were chosen mostly from Lahore, but few from the Capital city Islamabad as well. In-depth Interviews will be conducted to provide comprehensive perspectives from field experts and practitioners. Researcher will carefully select informants from different walk of life like defence analyst, religious scholars, political scientist, psychologists, political analysts and international delegates around the world, Media Analysts & Journalists affiliated with the same area. Some of the Factors of choosing the above mentioned informants includes that they are having command in dealing with religious extremism in Pakistan and have been involved in different activities in talking extremism on different platforms. Some are working, some are studding and researching in the same area, and some are specializing and representing Pakistan on international platforms. The researcher will try to explore their perception of Pakistani society about extremism and analyse how people think about this phenomenon and what its effect on their life.  PROCEEDINGS SMMTC POSTGRADUATE SYMPOSIUM 2018  SMMTC POSTGRADUATE SYMPOSIUM 2018 |134  Data Analysis Method Unstructured or Qualitative data can hold the key to affluent comprehensions and factual research discovery that can revolutionize your recommendations and set you ahead of the field. Methodologies routinely urge researchers to access the fit between purpose and method (Maxwell, 2005).  The researcher will use NVIVO method to analyze the data.  NVivo is software that supports qualitative and mixed methods research. The needs of Qualitative researchers to pursue leads in their data required, however that a computer program be able not only to retrieve all the text on a particular topic, but also to find text related to a combination of topics through interrogative searcher. The Developers of NVivo, promise only to provide you with a set of tools that will assist you in undertaking an analysis of qualitative data. NVivo has been developed by researchers, with extensive researcher feedback, and is designed to support researchers in the varied ways they work with data (Bazeley, P, 2007).  CONCLUSION:  In conclusion, the thesis establishes a connection of some of the organizations that interact with society and studying how they have evolved and become connected to extremists’ ideas. This thesis will then illustrate their social links that propagate extremism in society, as well as their influence in state activities. To sum up, the chapter had discussed the methodology for the research. It applied qualitative method of research for exploring the coverage of war on terror and subsequently, its impact on public opinion.  The study included interviews from Pakistani informants. The chapter had provided the detail information about the research procedure, instruments of research and data analysis. REFERENCE: Bazeley, P, (2007). Qualitative Data Analysis with NVivo, London, Sage Publications Briggs, B. (2015, December 16), Remembering the Peshawar school massacre Retrieved        from URL:   http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2015/12/remembering-        peshawar-school-massacre-151215071631624.html Access date:  22, July, 2017 Charmaz, K. (2006), Constructing grounded theory. A practical guide through qualitative analysis. Thousand Oaks, CA:Sage Publications. Ernst, Emily, (2015) Utilizing Countering Violent Extremism (CVE) in a Comprehensive Counterinsurgency Strategy Against the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan, Master of Arts, The          University of Texas at Austin, Qureshi, R. Gulraiz, A. & Shahzad, Z. (2016) An Analysis of Media’s role: Case Study of Army public school (APS) Peshawar attack. Social Communication: DE Gruyter.  Qayyum, S. (2015), A study of intentions of terrorist attack on APS School Peshawar,       Reactions and Panacea by Government University of the Punjab, Lahore Richards, L (2015), Handling Qualitative Data: A Practical Guide, 3rd Edition, Sage        Publications.  Rubin, H., & Rubin, I. (1995), Qualitative interviewing: The art of hearing data. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Ingrid, A. L. (2005). Exploring the Transatlantic Media Divide over Iraq: How and Why U.S. and German Media Differed in Reporting on UN Weapons Inspections in Iraq, 2002- 2003. The International Journal of Press/Politics   Lofland, J & Lofland, H. L. (1995), Typological Systems: Analyzing social settings, (Third edition). Belmont, Cal.: Wadsworth. Maxwell, J.A (2005). Qualitative researcher design. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publication 

Reasons & Reactions of Army Public School Attack and solution via Communication Strategies

http://repo.uum.edu.my/25343/1/STMMTCPS%202018%20131%20134.pdf

Reasons & Reactions of Army Public School Attack and solution via Communication Strategies

Abstract

Similar works

Full text

Available Versions

UUM Repository