From Military Operations to Rehabilitation: A Sociological Perspective of Counter-Terrorism in Pakistan

Abstract

US anti-terrorism policies have had a significant impact on Pakistan. Although America introduced the ‘otherness’ or ‘us & them’ phenomena between Americans and the Muslim world to Pakistan, the USA's postmodernist theological approach to Counter-Terrorism (CT) is founded on President Bush's fervor for missionary expansion. Both military operations and terrorist attacks, which had serious social and religious ramifications, were detrimental to the target population of CT operations. The goal of this essay is to develop a social discourse on the consequences of CT operations. It covers a wide range of topics, such as the dissolution of tribal cultures, the difference between official and unofficial stories of suicide bombers, and how exposure to modern weapons of war like drone missiles influences worldviews. The major goal of this study is to develop a sociological driven approach of CT. For this study, remote interviews were conducted with current residents of the terrorist-affected areas (Swat, Malakand, Buner, and UpperDir) as well as migrants and students from the diaspora. Creating a sociological road map for removing the threat and social effects of terrorism is a secondary goal. In addition to the prior defensive and preventive measures adopted to combat terrorism, it is suggested that NACTA undertake a rehabilitative strategy inspired by modern sociology.