The alarming involvement of talented university students, doctors, and engineers in terrorist activities is a major security challenge in Sindh, said Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) Additional IG Zulfiqar Larik during a strategic planning workshop today.
The top official stressed the urgent need to identify the sources that are pushing educated youth towards extremism.
He gave the example of a group called Ansar al-Sharia, which consisted entirely of young and talented university students, and which emerged to target police personnel, especially traffic police personnel.
Mr. Larik also referred to the terrorist attack that occurred near Safoora in which 45 members of the Ismaili community were killed, and stated that young doctors and engineers were involved in this incident.
Speaking on the broader security landscape, the Additional IG explained that various types of threats exist across the province, including threats from sectarian, linguistic, and religious conflicts as well as from various banned nationalist parties.
He identified the banned organizations active in the region, which include Daesh (ISIS) and TTP, and stated that these extremist groups are now called Fitna-tul-Khawarij or Fitna-tul-Hindustan.
The CTD official emphasized the need for capacity building to “align our people with the demands of the modern era” and also stressed the urgent need to improve regulations for digital and social media.
Concluding his address, Mr. Larik stated that the CTD also works against hate speech and has recently registered four such cases.