Violent extremism in Pakistan: a failure of public education

2015

In Pakistan the "nexus between, education, religion, and national identity" is a complex phenomenon 1. Having removed the civilian elected government amidst the political turmoil in 1979, Zia ul Haq's military regime sought internal political legitimacy and simultaneously tried to counter two external threats, the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and the Iranian revolution. Underpinned by Saudi ideology and American assistance, the military regime sought political control through education. The revised curricula became the primary source of the decline of educational standards, and the ideas imported from Saudi Arabia and the U.S. brought serious challenges to the very existence of Pakistan itself. The destruction of pluralism, the new political order based on force and revised curricula entailed insensitivity to minorities, glorification of war, promotion of jihad and martyrdom, and paved the way for religiously motivated terrorism in Pakistan. In addition, religious absolutism facilitates intolerance toward people of other beliefs. Peace educators and concerned citizens should take drastic measures to save the educational crisis from turning into a disaster.

TURKISH POLICY QUATERLY , 2021

The democratic credentials and institutions of Pakistan are explained as weak because of the division within society between modern secular and traditional religious positions. Today, the society of Pakistan faces the issue of religious extremism. While attempting to identify the causes of violent extremism and the socio-economic conditions, class divisions, and societal inequalities that direct Pakistanis toward extremism and militancy, this article argues that education is the most important solution that will save Pakistani society from the ills of extremism

Ankara Üniversitesi Eğitim Bilimleri Fakültesi Dergisi

This research study was conducted to explore the teachers' thoughts on extremism in education in Pakistan. The idea of research in this aspect was inspired by the recent acts of terrorism in some leading educational institutions of Pakistan. University teachers were interviewed by the researcher. Questions asked by the researcher were developed from the relevant factors taken from respective literature. The researcher validated these questions with the expert opinion of his supervisor. After validation of questions of interview, data were collected from nine university teachers including three female and six male teachers, belonging to different universities of Pakistan. The sample was purpose drawn from teachers who belonged to different sects, castes, environment and culture, so that a comprehensive opinion come. The interview protocol followed all ethical considerations. The interviews recorded were translated into English with especial focus on the meanings. The collected data were then analyzed according to thematic description approach. The themes were identified and coded and then interpreted into meaningful answers to the research questions. Teachers believed that there were different types and nature of extremism in educational institutions. The major factors identified by the teachers were financial, power politics, deprivation of rights, overruling of merit, straying away from the true path of Islam and lack of economic opportunities. Teachers also suggested some recommendations for controlling extremism in universities of Pakistan.

Conflict, Security and Development, 2021

This article is located in the wider discourse on the nexus of policy, research and practice of peace education for countering violent extremism (CVE) with a focus on learnings and insights from non-governmental initiatives in Pakistan. It presents an analysis of how the diverse and complex school education system in Pakistan ‘does’ and/or ‘does not’ respond to the challenges of an increasing scale and manifestations of violence, conflict and extremism in society. Moving beyond the discussion on the historical emergence, drivers, actors and characteristics of violent extremism in Pakistan, this paper engages with the erstwhile literature on the research-policy-practice nexus to examine nine peace education projects – mostly foreign-funded – in Pakistan. Considering the insights from these nine projects, the paper finds that there are several examples of successful stand-alone peace education for CVE projects but without a link to policy and research. Despite producing good quality CVE and peace education material, and applying these materials successfully in the diverse education setting of the country, many projects lacked sustainability due to over-dependence on foreign funding. Due to comparatively consistent external funding in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the organisations there are more successful in their peace education interventions than the ones in Punjab and Sindh.

Asian Journal of Comparative Politics

This article highlights the determinants leading to extremist behavior, i.e. the push and pull factors. The pull factors include: humanitarian causes; radical Islamic ideology; stipulation of a “purpose and mission”; propaganda through media; attraction to martyrdom; and misinterpretation of religious ideas by religious and non-religious extremists. The push factors are local conditions that force people to hold close the violent ideology of radical or extremist Islam. These comprise: local reaction against Americanization/globalization; lack of basic human rights; authoritarian/oppressive political systems; corruption/lack of meritocracy; high youth unemployment; state collapse; and porous borders. To investigate the causes of extremism in higher education institutes, Positivist philosophy (survey method) was adopted. A self-administered structured questionnaire was used to collect data from a sample of educated youth from all over Pakistan, collected via the probability sampling t...

2019

The concepts of social policies and welfare states have been limited to the contemporary westerncivilization. Muslim nations have not been great examples of investing in the human resource.The effects of social policies like free healthcare and competitive education system are directlyproportional to the level of extremism a country’s youth reaches upon. States concerned on thiscorrelation understand the psychological and physiological needs of their citizens. Problem understudy is a lack of investment in human development in Muslim countries with Pakistan in focus,and a psycho-religious affiliation of youth with ultra-orthodox extremism. To examine the issuetheoretically, we have used two theories: Religious pluralism to comprehend its various conceptsof harmony among world religions and subsequently their sects; and social constructivism toconnect its discursive formations with the secluded terminologies of pluralism. The purposewas to produce a discourse analysis of societal harm...

Education has remained at the heart of global security strategy to counter extremism since 9/11. Despite extensive policy measures and substantive investment in education to counter extremism, the persistent rise in extremism remains a puzzle for security analysts. Focusing on the critical case of Pakistan, this paper analyses post 9/11 education for security policies and points out their failure to recognize forms of domination in contemporary education. An instrumental case study of Cambridge O Level Pakistan Studies reveals how prevailing education policies and practices suppress critical and transformative function of education that can help counter extremism and build durable peace.

2019

Events following the 9/11 attack have fundamentally changed the political landscape, especially for the Muslim World. A new wave of violent extremism emerged, altering the structure of global world order. Pakistan has suffered impeding consequences following the „global war on terror‟. Currently, Pakistan has been ranked at number five in the Global Terrorism Index of 2017. The magnitude of Pakistan‟s loss is not limited to its economic or political instability, but it has crept into the very fabric of the Pakistani society. The purpose of the paper is to analyze the impact of violent extremism on Pakistani youth.

Research article, 2016

All over the world, terrorist attacks on places of learning are increasing. These attacks are different in types, including armed assaults, bombings and hostage taking. In Pakistan, these attacks began in 2009 and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK), with its conservative culture was the worst affected area, where mainly girls' schools were the targets of militants. Women in a conservative society are already marginalized and the extremist elements have further constrained their rights. According to the extremist's viewpoint, a woman's life is limited to the traditional roles where education is unnecessary and counterproductive. The customary norms also discourage female education and interpret it as a 'futile pastime.' The existing literature, focusing on gender disparity in the low enrolment of girls in schools, points out three main causes: tradition, poverty and extremism as hurdles in women's path to education. The religious extremists are deliberately keeping girls/women away from education. The paper explores the impact of violent extremism on educational facilities and a look into how it impedes the path of girls going to school.