By: Zaheer-ud-din Babar

Introduction
 Paigham-e-Pakistan is a counter narrative
against terrorism and extremism. For this
narrative, 1829 religious scholars from
different schools of thought all over the
country came together and gave practical
proof that they all were strictly against
religious extremism. On 16thJan 2018, this
document came in the shape of a narrative
“ sought by the government of Pakistan to
counter terrorism”.
Introduction(Continued)
 It was prepared and compiled by the
International Islamic University.
 The terrorism narrative, especially that
based on Islamic extremism, embraces the
concept of suicide killings and targeting of
innocent men, women and children in order
to spread fear and lower their enemy’s
morale, along with issuing fatwas
supporting the attacks .
Introduction(Continued)
 The Paigham-e-Pakistan countered this
narrative with its own, and cited the clear
cut teachings of the Quran and Sunnah
against the concept of suicide attacks,
saying they are unacceptable in Islam and
that Islam would never allowed the killing of
innocent people.
Statement of Problem
 Paigham-e-Pakistan offers no definite plan
on how it is to be used in the eradication of
terrorism and that the document itself only
condemns terrorism and offers no method
to combat it.
 Some policies were drawn up to implement
this but they all failed.
 A reason for this may be the unwillingness
of society to accept and embrace this
narrative.
Statement of Problem(Continued)
 Another problem concerning Paigham-e-
Pakistan is that it offers no insights on the
events that led to this narrative being
issued in the first place, such as the
sudden rise in extremism. It fails to
highlight the reasons behind this rise, and
to point out the dangerous signs so that
others may easily recognize them in the
future.
Research Objectives
 Identify the various obstacles and hurdles
which prevent the Paigham-e-Pakistan
narrative from being accepted and
endorsed by society as a whole.
 Identify ways to fix or remove these hurdles
along with findings ways through which the
government may enforce this narrative for
the benefit of society.
Research Question
 What paths can the government choose to
enforce Paigham-e-Pakistan to achieve
maximum results?
 Should Paigham-e-Pakistan be made part
of the curriculum so as to give society
maximum exposure to it?
Methodology
 Qualitative analysis was used for the
purpose of this study due to its importance
in providing insight on the hurdles faced
during the implementation of the Paigham-
e-Pakistan.
Statement of Limitations
 This study, though thoroughly researched,
does possess some limitations. Firstly, only
the narrative of Paigham-e-Pakistan
received much of our focus and attention.
In addition, due to the researcher’s lack of
knowledge of multiple languages, articles
and information written in other languages
about Paigham-e-Pakistan that may be
significant to this study were not read.