No. 205: Sectarianism in Pakistan

Author(s): Prem Mahadevan
Editor(s): Christian Nünlist
Series Editor(s): Christian Nünlist, Matthias Bieri
Series: CSS Analyses in Security Policy
Issue: 205
Publisher(s): Center for Security Studies (CSS), ETH Zurich
Publication Year: 2017

This analysis explores how rising sectarianism is undermining Pakistan’s ability to govern itself and deal with its domestic security problems. Unfortunately, the country’s armed forces and intelligence services helped create these predicaments by using jihadist groups as proxies in their long-standing stratagems against India and Afghanistan. While this practice initially permitted Pakistan to expand its influence in the Middle East, the increasingly negative impact of sectarian terrorism on the country’s civil society now presents a serious governance challenge for the state.

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Graphics:

Religions in Pakistan