Document Type : Science - Research (Political Science)

Authors

• Farhad Ataei ¹
• Shahrad Shahvand ²

¹ Faculty member of Tehran University

² M.A. in International Relation from Tehran University

Abstract

Sectarian extremism is one of the growing, destiner and determining phenomena in our world today. It has had an increasing role in shaping national, regional and international events and today’s interpretation and analysis of the political, security, social and economical events without consideration of these events and it’s various dimensions would be helplessly imperfect and inadequate. Sectarian extremism in Pakistan emerged in the late 1970s, grew in the 1980s, and continued in the 1990s. Understanding the cause and spread of sectarian extremism in Pakistan has a significant importance in haltering this phenomenon. Whereas many of the accomplished studies have focused on textual-discursive aspects, or subnational and national factors, this article combines the national and regional levels of analysis to study the effects of sectarian extremism in Pakistan in the time interval of 1979 to 2001. First, we define sectarian extremism, and introduce Pakistani religious sects and relevant approaches in its study. We, then, examine the effects of Islamization program in Pakistan, the Islamic revolution of Iran, the Afghan jihadi movement in the 1980s, the Kashmiri struggle, and the rise of Taliban in Afghanistan in the 1990s on sectarian extremism in Pakistan. Our argument is that national and regional factors are the main causes of sectarian extremism in Pakistan

Keywords

• Sectarian Extremism
• Pakistan
• Afghan jihad
• Kashmir jihad
• Taliban