Extremist tide rises in Pakistan

Extremist tide rises in Pakistan

www.msnbc.msn.com

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - A potentially troubling era dawned Sunday in Pakistan's Swat Valley, where a top Islamist militant leader, emboldened by a peace agreement with the federal government, laid out an ambitious plan to bring a "complete Islamic system" to the surrounding northwest region and the entire country.

"The government made a big mistake to give these guys legal cover for their agenda. Now they are going to be battle-ready to struggle for the soul of Pakistan," said Rifaat Hussain

(visit the link for the full news article)

This is very much big news. They were stupid to negotiate with these extremists to begin with, and now look what's happening.

If these extremists succeed in expanding their way of extreme religious governance it will firstly spell disaster to the people of Pakistan and potentially end up wiping the country of the map.

This might end up being one of the biggest threat to north america of this decade, and the next.

And some extremism will eventually leak into India via Punjab and this will create riots in India.
I am a hindu Punjabi and let me tell you they will not accomodate or tolerate any slight form of islamic extremism leaking into Punjab. Punjabis will not want their way of living in their everyday lives to be disrupted by extremism.

www.msnbc.msn.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

Oh what irony!
The US armed and funded the Islamic extremists when they fought the Russians in Afghanistan and then they took over the country...DOH!

Then they propped up, armed and funded a Pakistani dictator, radicalising the Pakistanis even more against their own government, allowing the Islamic radicals another foothold. Then they decided to start flying drones around the border country firing off missiles everywhere, causing large civilian loss of life and radicalising people further in their anti-west sentiment.
Was that the plan all along, to create the groundwork for a new emerging enemy or was it all unintended consequences of shortsighted foreign policy?

Pakistan is radicalised. The seeds of deception have already planted and nothing will stop it. The US back rabble-rousers to further their own agenda of fighting a never ending war on terror.

We all need an enemy to fight to promote this good vs evil BS.

[edit on 20/4/09 by MacDonagh]

So Pakistan is the new Afghanistan. Extreme Islam knows no bounds and will not be passified. It has only one agenda and that is to take over as much as it can.

This is indeed extremely dangerous. Because of Pakistan's nuclear status and economic integration with the rest of the world, the effects of radicalizing Pakistan will be felt globally.

There is some fundamental question to be answered about human nature, that addresses why such extreme and fundamentalist views can become so popular, and what can be done to encourage more moderate views. Fighting or killing off the instigators may seem expedient but obviously backfires as witnessed by the American missile strikes only inciting more recruits. I don't know what the answer is, but we need to find one fast.

Originally posted by wayno
So Pakistan is the new Afghanistan. Extreme Islam knows no bounds and will not be passified. It has only one agenda and that is to take over as much as it can.

The difference being that Pakistan is a nuclear power. I just hope the West has an emergency plan to clandestinely smuggle out their nuclear warheads. I don't want to think what would happen if these extremists go nuclear.

I actually have faith in the majority of the Pakistani people,i dont think pakistan will turn into a failed state or that these *extremists* will have their way when push comes to shove.

Originally posted by Mdv2
I just hope the West has an emergency plan to clandestinely smuggle out their nuclear warheads. I don't want to think what would happen if these extremists go nuclear.

So you hope that those who funded Pakistan's nuclear project for years with your tax dollars sneak them out?

Wow, It's like a new form of outsourcing

Hmm. I read recently that Sufism was on the rise in Pakistan- perhaps there's a culture clash here between liberal Sufism and a reactive Salafi tide. Do Pakistanis even embrace Salafi stuff?
The tragedy of moderate Sufism is that the non-Islamic world can swallow it alot easier than reactionary Islam but it is opposed within the ulema by conservatives who see it as deviating. Is this somewhat correct?
Thanks OP.

Originally posted by ModernAcademia

Originally posted by Mdv2
I just hope the West has an emergency plan to clandestinely smuggle out their nuclear warheads. I don't want to think what would happen if these extremists go nuclear.

So you hope that those who funded Pakistan's nuclear project for years with your tax dollars sneak them out?

Wow, It's like a new form of outsourcing

Dude, I'm from Holland, look at my avatar, doesn't really look like a Saudi party right? After all, the Saudi's funded their nuclear program and not the US, which you seemed to assume. The only relation with Holland is that this Aga-Khan worked in a Dutch nuclear power facility as a spy and stole the blueprints required to build the nuclear facilities.

reply to post by Mdv2


My apologies, I thought you were from the ObamaNation
U.S. funded Pakistan's Nuclear project for years.

They also funded their anti-al qaida activities which they later found out Pak was only using the money fund fund an attack on India, but the U.S. decided to hey, let's keep funding them anyhow!

Holland is cool.

Yet another tick of the clock. The Pakistani government made a fatal error, I think, in negotiating with the Taliban elements in Swat.
The Swat Taliban is even using class issues to rally the poor to their side. They are expanding outside the realm of religious fanaticism. This NY Times article spells out some of the trouble there.

I don't know enough about the internal issues of Pakistan to make a serious prediction but all the signs visible to the West leave me ill at ease at the prospect that the country to go up in flames with civil war.

I agree with one of the other posters that I do hope there are contingency plans to get those nukes out if the government falls.

Obs out

That NY Times article was surely enlightening. I wondered in my earlier post about why people resort to extremism. It seems its not such a mystery after all -- corruption.
Pakistan has brought these troubles onto itself by not dealing with the class inequalities and corruption. My neighbour here in Canada is originally from Pakistan and has often referred to the politics there in such a way.
One can only hope that this looming crisis is the spark that will initiate reforms.