Security briefing paper on Pakistan
Introduction:
Having lost the last vestiges of its secular inspiration in the bloody marshes of Bangladesh in 1971, the country the world knows as Pakistan is at present under siege from a motley armada of militant groups, trying to establish an Islamist utopia . The situation is made worse by the schizophrenic state of the country’s counter-terrorism approach, with differential treatments meted out to Afghan Taliban and Laskhkar-e- Taiba ( groups destabilizing India and Afghanistan) on the one hand, and Lashkar-e Jhangvi and Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) on the other . Spill-over effects of the Shi’a-Sunni fratricide in the nearby Middle east, coupled with widespread poverty, rampant crime, and limited …show more content…
The Shi’a minority of Pakistan, who constitute 20% of the country’s population, have seen their mosques bombed as Sunni extremists see those as soft targets. Some sunni militants have ties to the government and the military.
Some elements of Pakistani Shi’as have become militants themselves, with media reports in December 2015 stating that “hundreds” of Pakistani Shi’ites were fighting for the Assad regime in Syria . Cognizant of domestic tensions, Pakistan has modified her foreign policy postures in recent times. The country has chosen to remain neutral in the conflict in Yemen.
Tilting ever more closely to China, Pakistan is gradually becoming less reliant on Saudi financial largesse. However, until regulations surrounding religious schools are tightened and establishment’s flirtations with extremist groups is stopped Sunni-Shi’a tensions will likely remain a risk to the country’s security environment in the near-future.
A government crackdown in Karachi in 2013 resulted in significant reduction of crime rates. However, allegations surfaced that the authorities targeted syndicates that have links with the Muttahida Qaumi Movement ( MQM) and its
Introduction:
Having lost the last vestiges of its secular inspiration in the bloody marshes of Bangladesh in 1971, the country the world knows as Pakistan is at present under siege from a motley armada of militant groups, trying to establish an Islamist utopia . The situation is made worse by the schizophrenic state of the country’s counter-terrorism approach, with differential treatments meted out to Afghan Taliban and Laskhkar-e- Taiba ( groups destabilizing India and Afghanistan) on the one hand, and Lashkar-e Jhangvi and Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) on the other . Spill-over effects of the Shi’a-Sunni fratricide in the nearby Middle east, coupled with widespread poverty, rampant crime, and limited …show more content…
The Shi’a minority of Pakistan, who constitute 20% of the country’s population, have seen their mosques bombed as Sunni extremists see those as soft targets. Some sunni militants have ties to the government and the military.
Some elements of Pakistani Shi’as have become militants themselves, with media reports in December 2015 stating that “hundreds” of Pakistani Shi’ites were fighting for the Assad regime in Syria . Cognizant of domestic tensions, Pakistan has modified her foreign policy postures in recent times. The country has chosen to remain neutral in the conflict in Yemen.
Tilting ever more closely to China, Pakistan is gradually becoming less reliant on Saudi financial largesse. However, until regulations surrounding religious schools are tightened and establishment’s flirtations with extremist groups is stopped Sunni-Shi’a tensions will likely remain a risk to the country’s security environment in the near-future.
A government crackdown in Karachi in 2013 resulted in significant reduction of crime rates. However, allegations surfaced that the authorities targeted syndicates that have links with the Muttahida Qaumi Movement ( MQM) and its