Evolution of the Fundamentalism and Religious Extremism in Pakistan

As per an estimate 96.4% of total 199 million Pakistanis are Muslims and rest of the population consists of Christians, Hindus, Sikhs and other minority groups. However, diversity in Pakistan is more visible along cultural and ethnic lines and less through its religious distribution. Pakistan is the cradle of Indus Valley Civilization and since those days, Pakistan opened its arms for all the migrants, settlers, traders, invaders and nonetheless preachers from all over the world. Since thousands of years now, people from diverse ethnicities and religions have lived together and involved in all kinds of social interactions with each other. Beauty lies in diversity and so was the understanding of people of this area till 18^th century.

Towards the end of 18^th century and with the decline of social and political stability, many religious reformers started propagating their separatist and anti-social views. Certainly the Hindus were convinced of the unjust Muslim rule and the Muslims felt threatened by the Hindu majority. Religious scholars and opportunists were able to win hundreds of thousands of followers and many political-religious movements started in the subcontinent. Some radical ideologies were imported from different parts of the world. Many of these movements aimed at introducing fundamentalist religious ideologies that gave rise to communal violence and disturbed the religious and social harmony of the subcontinent.  In the wake of political disintegration and social chaos in the subcontinent, people started taking refuge in the religious fundamentalism; radical ideologies and religious extremism started strengthening in the society during 19^th and 20^th century. However, this rise in fundamentalism was not the only social change recorded by the history, there were liberal ideologies and western culture being exported to the Subcontinent by the Europeans.

Liberal and western ideas received popularity in the urban centres of Indo-Pak subcontinent. A new generation of liberal and free thinkers adopted less religious lifestyle as well as propagated an open and plural ideology in the country. These people were not the Sufis but they also, just like the Sufi scholars, understood the cultural diversity of the subcontinent and promoted tolerance and coexistence in this country. Fundamentalist movements also win huge following and established strongholds in various parts of the subcontinent, mostly in rural areas. Some of these fundamentalist movements were not purely religious and rather they aimed to promote ethnic divide. Even the Muslims, the Hindu and the Sikh communities were subdivided on the basis of the ethnicity. Fall of Dhaka is an evidence of this ethnic and cultural divide. Religious and cultural diversity was appreciated, promoted and welcomed either in the literary societies of India and Pakistan or it was seen around the Sufi shrines in both countries. However, this environment of Sufi shrines was going to be polluted by neo-religious movements and extremist groups in post-Zia-ul-haq era.

It is a fact that our intervention in Afghanistan in 1980s was purely politically motivated although it was disguised in the religious intentions. Zia ul Haq wanted to install a Pakistan friendly government in Afghanistan at any cost, only the cost was going to be too high! For centuries religious movements and radical Islam was searching for a political face in the subcontinent, Zia ul Haq provided legitimacy to the fundamentalist groups in Pakistan. It was not only Zia ul Haq, religious seminaries affiliated with fundamentalist ideologies were able to groom a generation of the ‘Molanas’ who were eager to establish their own rule in the society. The Talibans became political and legal face of fundamentalism with a radical ideology at their hearts. Thousands of people in Pakistan provided ideological support to the Talibans and promoted their agenda. However, they were going to be disappointed by an end to the Taliband rule. These people were frustrated by the destruction of the Talibans and felt threatened by Pakistani liberals as well as the westerners. As they have had established themselves well in the society and had thousands of seminaries and many armed organisations, they decided to respond violently.

These people have support from the enemies of Pakistan and people who exported their fundamentalist ideologies to the subcontinent centuries ago. This extremism is threat to political and social stability of Pakistan because these groups are willing to kill anyone without discrimination of colour and creed. They have butchered the children, killed women and attacked almost every religious minority in past 10 years. People involved in recent brutalities in Peshawar, target killing of the Hazaras and attack on Ismaili community in Karachi are equipped with extremist ideologies and this mind-set is product of fundamentalism.