Topic: 2025 – Reducing Recruitment Capabilities of Terrorist Groups
Country: Pakistan
Delegate Name: Broderick McDonald
The country of Pakistan is in support of reducing the recruitment capabilities of terrorist groups. Having the second-largest population of Muslims in the world, other Islamic terrorist groups specifically target the country of Pakistan for recruitment efforts. The specific makeup of Pakistan’s Muslim population is “96.3 percent Muslim (85–90 percent Sunni, 10–15 percent Shi’a” (UNITED STATES COMMISSION on INTERNATIONAL RELIGIOUS FREEDOM, 2022). We have to look at this statistic because of what it represents. People who are a part of the Sunni Muslim denomination are at much greater risk of committing terrorist crimes.
These terrorist groups recruit people by targeting financially insecure communities. Communities of people that are in poverty, have low literacy rates, or have a weak government in place. These terrorist groups also build narratives that appeal to young people, making it more enticing to join. Online radicalization is another way that these terrorist groups appeal to people. This is primarily through encrypted apps, social media, and even gaming platforms; all of this makes monitoring much more challenging for the governments of said countries.
Many groups also use emotional tactics, like promising safety, belonging, or purpose, to recruit women and children who are often overlooked in prevention strategies. These different strategies are why these terrorist groups are thriving, and Pakistan can not withstand much longer.
Pakistan has faced decades of terrorism and therefore has a very personal stake in reducing recruitment, since the country has lost thousands of civilians and soldiers and has spent billions fighting violent groups. Pakistan implemented the National Action Plan, which focuses on limiting hate speech, controlling extremist financing, regulating unregistered madrassas, and strengthening internal security. The government of Pakistan has also set up community-based de-radicalization and rehabilitation programs aimed at helping young people who were vulnerable to recruitment or who were previously involved with extremist networks. Helping the people who need it before they die is what matters here.
Pakistan strongly follows major UN counterterrorism resolutions and pushes for more cooperation between states, since recruitment networks often operate across borders. Pakistan’s military and intelligence operations, like Zarb-e-Azb and Radd-ul-Fasaad, significantly reduced the operational space for groups that relied heavily on local recruitment. Monitoring of digital platforms has expanded in Pakistan. This expansion has thrived especially in taking down extremist propaganda and reporting dangerous accounts to international partners.
Pakistan believes reducing recruitment requires tackling root causes like unemployment, lack of education, and instability, because terrorist groups take advantage of those frustrations. Pakistan also supports greater intelligence-sharing among countries, because recruiters can easily cross borders and often use foreign funding channels. Seeing more global work on regulating online extremist content while still respecting digital rights, since most recruitment starts online now, is another way of being able to reduce the recruitment capabilities of terrorist groups.
Pakistan supports creating youth-focused programs that give vulnerable communities alternatives, like job skills or education, so extremist narratives lose their influence. Pakistan hopes DISEC can help create early-warning systems to identify regions where recruitment risk is rising, especially in conflict zones overall. Pakistan wants comprehensive, practical prevention strategies instead of only military responses, because stopping recruitment early is the most sustainable way to reduce terrorism long-term.
https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/muslim-population-by-country
https://www.uscirf.gov/sites/default/files/2022-08/2022%20Pakistan%20Country%20Update.pdf
