Suchergebnisse

The chapter examines the origins & often violent consequences of the "new" sectarian militancy in Pakistan. At once Islamist & sectarianist (ie, Sunni vs Shia) in thrust, this political movement at its essence engages questions about nationalism, identity mobilization, & ethnic antagonism. The effect has been a volatile political dynamics in which ideological fundamentalism converges with ethnic exclusiveness. Impelled by conflicts in Afghanistan & Kashmir as well as by the 1979 Islamist revolution in Iran, Pakistan's sectarian militants have gained considerable clout in institutional, political, social, & criminal arenas. The state, only recently cognizant of the extent of the militants' power, needs to address the root cause of sectarian militancy & rethink its support for the Taliban & extremists in Kashmir. K. Coddon

The chapter examines the origins & often violent consequences of the "new" sectarian militancy in Pakistan. At once Islamist & sectarianist (ie, Sunni vs Shia) in thrust, this political movement at its essence engages questions about nationalism, identity mobilization, & ethnic antagonism. The effect has been a volatile political dynamics in which ideological fundamentalism converges with ethnic exclusiveness. Impelled by conflicts in Afghanistan & Kashmir as well as by the 1979 Islamist revolution in Iran, Pakistan's sectarian militants have gained considerable clout in institutional, political, social, & criminal arenas. The state, only recently cognizant of the extent of the militants' power, needs to address the root cause of sectarian militancy & rethink its support for the Taliban & extremists in Kashmir. K. Coddon

The past two decades have witnessed a notable escalation in sectarian violence in Pakistan. Since 1979 doctrinal disputes between Sunnis (who constitute the majority of Pakistan's population) and Twelver Shi'is (who number between 15% and 25% of the population, and are to be distinguished from Islami'ili, Khoja and Bohri Shi'is) has given place to full-fledged sectarian conflict. Militant Sunni and Shi'i organizations have carried out assassinations and bombing campaigns that have killed political rivals as well as children and the innocent at prayer in mosques. In the first seven months of 1997 alone—the year when sectarian conflict reached its apogee—one hundred people died in such attacks in Punjab. The violence escalated further when in the first ten days of August 1997 (immediately preceding the celebration of the fiftieth anniversary of the country's independence) another seventy people were killed in incidents of sectarian violence.

Examines Islamization as a product of attempts by a state held captive by the landed elite to augment its autonomy; 1977-85.