"Pakistan: The Status Quo Prevails, or Time for Something Completely Different? Part Two: Radicalism, Militancy & the Civil-Military Divide", Emma Hooper

Pakistan: The Status Quo Prevails, or Time for Something Completely Different? Part Two: Radicalism, Militancy & the Civil-Military Divide

- Radicalism, militancy and the civil-military divide constitute critical challenges facing Pakistan’s rulers and have linkages to both governance and economic issues. - Security and geo-strategic challenges include that of the obvious links between (violent) radicalisation and militancy. However, there is also a more insidious form - the radicalisation of mindsets. - With the liberalisation of press laws, on the one hand, freedom of expression has flourished. However, the visual media is not well-versed in the ethics of criticism, and extremist, ultra-nationalist and often irresponsible views are routinely aired on private television channels. - The failure of political parties to develop a counter-ideology to combat mindsets of extremism has the consequence that, because of the lack of a better alternative, people take refuge in a more tangible, rightist, religious ideology, which is fuelled by a growing anti-US sentiment.

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Dr. Emma Hooper, Senior Research Fellow Associate, CIDOB

31-V-12