Peshawar - A two-day scholarly dialogue on countering violent extremism was organised by the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Centre of Excellence on Countering Violent Extremism (COECVE) in collaboration with community resilience activity north (CRA-North).
The dialogues were attended by Irshad Qaisar, the Caretaker Provincial Minister for Higher Education, and Daud Khan, the Secretary for Higher Education. Political figures, religious leaders, media representatives, civil society organisations (CSOs), academic researchers, scholars, and legal experts were among those who took part in the event.
The Chief Coordination Officer COECVE Dr Ayaz, described the dialogue as the first of its kind, saying that it primarily aims to facilitate participants’ discussions on the recent legislation forming the ‘Research-Based Centre of Excellence on Countering Violent Extremism in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and related components such as CVE research activities, CVE Strategies, and action plans.
In his opening remarks, Secretary Higher Education Daud Khan stated that discussions on violent extremism drivers and causes of extremist trends; counter-violent extremism (CVE) policy framework and implementation mechanism including its communications management approaches, countering violent extremism practises in Pakistan, roles of different sectors of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa society for CVE, CVE engagement within educational institutions, and other relevant topics would be held.
In her closing remarks, Caretaker Minister for Higher Education Irshad Qaisar stated that the session assisted the Centre of Excellence on Countering Violent Extremism in gathering baseline information on the aforementioned issues and gaining a better understanding of areas of collaboration that it can pursue in future engagements with these experts.
The centre will also compile a report by combining experts’ perspectives on how the Centre of Excellence on Countering Violent Extremism can plan and develop counter-violent extremism activities in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
