At The Crossroads
Priyanka Singh
-- Moeed Yusuf Foundation Books, Delhi, 2015, 252 pp., 252
February 2015, volume 39, No 2

Pakistan has been boxed in a peculiar paradoxical situation–on one hand it is pronounced as a state perpetrating militancy and on the other a victim itself of terrorism fighting rather hard to counter militancy. Facing an unprecedented scourge of violence while trying to pull off an ambiguous counterterro-rism strategy, Pakistan is currently at the cross-roads with few options available. In a volatile security context, it is imperative for Pakistan to undertake a focussed, comprehensive and unbiased strategy to eradicate terrorist outfits which have caused immense damage to its image globally, cost its own people their lives and blunted future prospects for progress.
In this backdrop, Pakistan’s Counterterrorism Challenge, edited by Moeed Yusuf, Director of the South Asian Programs at the United States Institute of Peace (USIP), Washington D. C. puts together a detailed analysis on Pakistan’s challenge against the rising tide of militancy. The book hinges its arguments on the fundamental truth that militancy in Pakistan is a result of the combination of internal dynamics and external factors operating in varying geopolitical contexts. The book is set on the caveat that it deals specifically with counterterrorism and not counter insurgency (COIN), even as there may be overlapping factors interconnecting the two manifestations of violence in Pakistan.

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