Public diplomacy is an attempt made by governments to correspond directly with foreign publics. Each country has its own objectives to fulfil through public diplomacy, including image building and relationship building in the longer run. Nowadays, states frequently utilize Public Diplomacy to pursue their national interests. Pakistan is among the states that suffer from the menace of a negative perception owing to the countryÂ’s association with terrorism and instability. Now that the country has effectively won the War on Terror and an improved internal security situation prevails, the next step shall be towards improving its reputation by using public diplomacy. In this article, the authors delve into emphasizing why public diplomacy is imperative and the need of the hour for Pakistan, and how it can reform and rebuild its international image by employing an effective public diplomacy strategy.

Public diplomacy lies at the heart of modern development of information age and shapes the concept of social and political thought. This paper analysis the concept of soft power vis-a-vis counter terrorism strategy of nation states and discusses the significance of the soft power and public/cultural diplomacy in building image, nation branding and ultimately building a narrative. It will bring the reference point of Pakistan on the issue of relevance with today's world at the same time carrying a negative image of terrorist state. This paper establishes co-relation between nation branding and public diplomacy. Since the hard power is meeting with failure in order to curb the terrorism, there is limitation of state capacity to use hard power in bringing the structural changes needed for curbing terrorism. The paper recommends that there is a great need for revisiting religious narrative that extremists invoke for justification of their acts.