State & religious extremism
PAKISTAN has banned the TLP again. It is the second time in four years that the violent religio-political group has been outlawed. The action has been taken by the federal government after the group…
The scope and tapestry of religious extremism
Gen Kayani’s speech at PMA Kakul on August 14 repays a close study. The war against religious extremism was our war, he said. This was the kernel of his remarks.…
Extremism: the unfinished war
ALTHOUGH the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan and Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan represent two contrasting shades of religiously inspired violent extremism in Pakistan, they share at least one characteristic: both soft and coercive measures have failed to work against…
Indoctrination of extremism—II
Primary school math textbooks produced by UNO and funded by USAID incorporated militant ideology to promote violence against Soviet soldiers. A third-grade math textbook taught subtraction through this problem: “One…
Policies to prevent extremism
THE government has announced another policy related to countering extremism; it contains the same flowery words, borrowed jargon, hollow phrases, and unfeasible implementation plans as several policies before it. One…
Drivers of extremism
WHAT compels a mob to burn someone to death? What explains such amplified levels of anger that an accusation against some person from a marginalised group leads to a lynching?…
Understanding extremism
THE scenes are from a movie in a Third World, conflict-ridden state, when a mob descends upon a local church to set it ablaze, leaving behind a trail of destruction…
Mired in extremism
THE clumsy uproar of a religious group on filmmaker Sarmad Khoosat’s film Zindagi Tamasha and an appeasing response by the government reveal only a part of the extremism problem facing Pakistani state…
Countering violent extremism
PAKISTAN seems to be in the grip of extremism often fuelled and expressed by those violently reacting to any accusation of blasphemy. The recent, and as yet unproven, allegations of desecration of…
Extremism virus
MANY societies affected by extremism mistakenly believe that countering and preventing extremism is the exclusive domain of government agencies. This perception only provides more space for extremist groups to disseminate…
