A plausible retort may well be, “It has been sliding in that direction for years, maybe decades”. Former Pakistani politician and scholar Farahnaz Ispahani and Nina Shea of the Hudson Institute’s Center for Religious Freedom provide a view of the Pakistani state and the interwoven hand of Islamist ideology spreading extremism throughout society.
Writing for CNN, two scholars document Pakistan’s continued slide towards extremism
The reality is that Pakistan is facing a serious problem, with the mushrooming of Islamist appeal within Pakistani society reminding us that we risk seeing the Talibanization not simply of a small minority of ordinary citizens, but large swathes of the populace of the world’s second largest – and only nuclear-armed – Muslim country…
State laws and practices relating to Islamic blasphemy, in particular, are increasingly suppressing moderate voices, while allowing extremists to dominate cultural discourse and learning. As a result, extremism is making ideological inroads into wider and wider segments of the population.
With the “War on Terror” now shifting its focus away from Pakistan’s backyard to the Islamic State in Syria/Iraq and the upsurge of political wranglings in Pakistan, many experts have already predicted that the Pakistani state will go back to the tried and true tactic of revving up its subversive activities against India.
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