KARACHI, Nov 13 Activists of several civil society organisations and human rights groups on Friday called for eradicating poverty and addressing the grievances of marginalised segments of society to effectively curb terrorism.

They were expressing their views at a gathering organised by the Pakistan Peace Coalition at the Karachi Press Club.

They were of the opinion that terrorism could not be wiped out unless concrete measures were taken to eradicate poverty and improve living conditions of the marginalised groups.

The activists, intellectuals, academics and journalists who discussed strategies to counter terrorism in Pakistan also appeared in agreement that what was going on in the country was the fallout of successive governments' policies.

“We're reaping what we had sown 30 years ago,” said Dr Tipu Sultan, a known medical expert. He said “Blaming external forces is wrong, for what we face today is the blowback effect of our own actions.”

Karamat Ali, the executive director of the Pakistan Institute of Labour Education and Research (PILER), said that the economic disparity in this country was never as wide as it was today.”

Quoting a Unicef study, he stated that around 50 million children in Pakistan were suffering from stunted growth and this was due to malnourishment that their mothers experienced during pregnancy.

“These are the children who may later become suicide bombers in their fight against poverty and disparity,” he argued.

Mr Ali also highlighted the importance of paying due attention to the grievances of various federating units in Pakistan, and said, terrorism could not be controlled without addressing their issues. In this regard, he called for introducing land reforms and formulating short- term policies. “If at least one per cent of the GDP is allocated for development, all rural areas of Pakistan can be developed,” he said. Allocating five per cent of the annual budget for social security programmes would immensely help alleviate poverty, thus eliminating the root cause of terrorism, he added.

Prof Tauseef Ahmad of the Federal Urdu University of Arts, Science and Technology advised the general public not to follow a doctrine of their liking blindly. He stressed the need for assessing and evaluating such ideologies, doctrines, beliefs etc, before following them.

He pointed out that the Taliban who had emerged as a movement had been targeting innocent people and schools. In addition to “narco-dollars”, the money collected in the donation boxes placed at shopping centres and other public places was for Taliban and such other organisations.

According to Zulfiqar Shah of the PILER, around 22,000 people have lost their lives in acts of terrorism over the past six years. In the current year alone, there have been 60 suicide bombings.