Mubashir Akram

Growing up in the Jihadist Pakistan of the late 1980s and 1990s had certain advantages that ignorance bestowed upon its adherents. Youth — myself included — carried a very simple worldview that had a promise of an ultimate victory for (Pakistani) Muslims, and a crushing defeat for the non-Muslim world. A large chunk of my […]

According to the World Bank, women workforce in Pakistan is the lowest in South Asia. India has 24.3 per cent, Bangladesh 34.6 per cent, Sri Lanka 30.9 per cent, Nepal 50.8 per cent and Bhutan 40.1 per cent of working women. Pakistan’s percentile of the working women is 22.2 per cent that is even worse […]

  Something that Maulana Masood Alvi started in Multan in the 1980s created a legacy of local, regional and now transnational violence. The second Deobandi influenced transnational jihadist organisation, Harkat-ul-Jihad al-Islami was also formed in Multan. Its founder, Nasrullah Langrial was caught and imprisoned in the Indian part of Kashmir, and was released after over […]

The rot of violence and extremism that started in the Deobandis had three dimensions. First and foremost, its aim was to counter the expansionist designs of the Shiites in Pakistan who acted as mere extensions of the Iranian “revolution”. This was essentially harbingered by the Tehrik-e-Nifaze Fiqa Jafria. Secondly, the increasing proximity that the Deobandis […]

The Deobandi version of Islam in Pakistan is hardly what it started out to be in 1867 in India as a revivalist movement. The seven giants of the Islamic Jurisprudence of that time who established Dar-al Uloom Deoband included names like Rashid Ahmed Gangohi, Zulfiqar Ali, Shah Rafiuddin, Muhammad Yaqub and Muhammad Qasim Nanotvi. This […]

Without going into the details of a popular statement, we have heard all too frequently something along the lines that ‘Pakistani society is a resilient society, and its people have always got back up.’ But that’s what people do – everywhere in the world. There is really nothing that significant about this so-called resilience that […]

Before analysing connection of PTI with ‘political extremism’ in Pakistan, one must carefully understand the basic definitions of radicalism and extremism and their connectivity with violence in different forms. Political radicalism is generally defined as the behaviour that supports extreme and sudden change to achieve various ideas and objectives. While extremism in politics is described […]

Since 1985, Hafiz Saeed’s journey from establishing Jamatud Dawa (JuD) the same year to establishing Milli Muslim League (MML)on August 8, 2017 has been an interesting one. His old lieutenant, Zakiur Rahman Lakhvi joined hands with him soon after JuD was established, and Markaz Dawatul Irshad (MDI) was born. There were 17 founding members of […]

I am a dejected and disassociated Pakistani citizen and voter these days, and I have my valid reasons to be that. I first voted in 1993, and then have voted in every subsequent election that took place. My voting patterns have been all over, and I voted for three parties in five elections. My last […]

Across the world, religious sects and their leaders have their social and political economies, and adopt different strategies to maximise their influence and affluence among people at home or abroad. Most democratic societies and people indulge in educated discourse, and collectively try to decipher challenges that pose substantial threats to their ways of life. Culture […]