Countries should transcend biases to fight terrorism, asserts Basit

Asserting that terrorism has no religion and faith, Pakistan High Commissioner Abdul Basit on Wednesday said it was a global phenomenon that could not be defeated through half-baked strategies and countries should transcend individual and collective biases to fight it.

Speaking on the first anniversary of the Army Public School attack in Peshawar, he said the international community must understand his country’s pain as it hurts when Pakistan is painted by some with closed eyes. No other country has suffered so much from violent extremism than Pakistan, he added.

Seven gunmen affiliated to the Tehrik-i-Taliban had attacked the school, killing at least 148 on this day in 2014.

“Terrorism is a global, regional, national and local phenomenon; it could not be defeated through half-baked and incoherent strategies. We must transcend our individual and collective biases to eliminate terrorism and ensure that this menace does not resurface anywhere in the world,” Basit said. 

“No country, however preponderant, can be complacent when it comes to terrorism. We will triumph over it only if we fight together,” he said.  Terming the school attack as a “defining moment”,  Basit said the people of Pakistan would never let the sacrifices made by the young children go waste.