This report examines political violence, sectarianism, insurgency, militancy and terrorism in Pakistan, approaches of political parties and government and its implications for the society and polity of Pakistan. The report focuses on a one-year period after the May 2013 general elections, which saw the PML-N assuming power in Islamabad with the Provinces being led by other national and regional parties. According to the report, the rising tide of violence and terrorism being witnessed in Pakistan has its basis in the society and polity of Pakistan which enable a culture of intolerance and hatred which is so deeply entrenched that it has made the state's fight against terror extremely difficult. The overall internal security situation gets even more complicated because of the fact that various sectarian groups and radical organizations like the TTP and other fundamentalist forces are not only closely networked, but also have an ideological affinity and provide each other sanctuaries and bases. Moreover, there are radicals within the ranks of the army, political parties and civil society who support these groups and their activities; and rather than accepting that Pakistan is plagued by home-grown radicalism, they resort to diversionary tactics and put the blame on external powers, which inevitably weakens the domestic resolve to fight the growing menace of terrorism and extremism.

This report examines political violence, sectarianism, insurgency, militancy and terrorism in Pakistan, approaches of political parties and government and its implications for the society and polity of Pakistan. The report focuses on a one-year period after the May 2013 general elections, which saw the PML-N assuming power in Islamabad with the Provinces being led by other national and regional parties. According to the report, the rising tide of violence and terrorism being witnessed in Pakistan has its basis in the society and polity of Pakistan which enable a culture of intolerance and hatred which is so deeply entrenched that it has made the state's fight against terror extremely difficult. The overall internal security situation gets even more complicated because of the fact that various sectarian groups and radical organizations like the TTP and other fundamentalist forces are not only closely networked, but also have an ideological affinity and provide each other sanctuaries and bases. Moreover, there are radicals within the ranks of the army, political parties and civil society who support these groups and their activities; and rather than accepting that Pakistan is plagued by home-grown radicalism, they resort to diversionary tactics and put the blame on external powers, which inevitably weakens the domestic resolve to fight the growing menace of terrorism and extremism.

Role of the Police

Honor and violence are major themes in the anthropology of the Middle East, yet--apart from political violence--most studies approach violence from the perspective of honour. By contrast, this important study examines the meanings of lethal conflict in a little-studied tribal society in Pakistan's unruly North-West Frontier Province (NWFP) and offers a new perspective on its causes. Based on an in-depth study of local conflicts, the book challenges stereotyped images of a region and people miscast as extremist and militant. Being grounded in local ethnography enables the book to shed light on the complexities of violence, not only at the structural or systemic level, but also as experienced by the men involved in lethal conflict. In this way, the book provides a subjective and experiential approach to violence that is applicable beyond the field locality and relevant for advancing the study of violence in the Middle East and South Asia. The book is the first ethnographic study of this region since renowned anthropologist Fredrik Barth's pioneering study in 1954.

Offers a look at the political violence in Pakistan through a historical ethnography of the Muhajir Qaumi movement, one of the most remarkable and successful religious nationalist movements in post colonial South Asia.