A four member team of Quilliam Foundation, based in UK, held a roundtable with the faculty and students of the DSS Department, on June 16, 2010. The roundtable discussion centered around the issues of deradicalisation, importance of political process & democratic culture, and effective means of targeting extremism. The Quilliam team was led by Mr. Majid Nawaz, along with Ms. Fatima Malik, Imran Khan and Ali.
During the roundtable and later during the discussion session, issues pertaining to radicalization were discussed. Although process of democratization and pluralistic culture were termed fundamental for a society free of extremist and radicalized opinions, but it was also highlighted that any and every society has problems which act as triggers. Basic issues such as grievances, identity crises, ideology and recruitment act as the fodder for radicalization and violent extremism it is very important to depoliticize religion and not manipulate Islam for fulfilling personal agenda. Islam as a religion neither teaches extremism nor a myopic line of thinking, where today its various sects and schools of thought are being exploited, they are and can be used as a unifying factor, through ijtehad, positive dialogue and deliberations. The sectarian divide between the various sects and religious –political identity has become so deeply entrenched over the centuries that mere dialogue along cannot be enough to bridge this widening schism, however, its importance cannot be relegated.