Pakistani origin scholar

Hassan Abbas, a Pakistani origin scholar now based in the United States gives a vivid account of transformation which took place in Pakistani society in his book, Pakistan’s Drift into Extremism Allah, the Army and America’s War on Terror. He considers religious extremism as pre-9/1 1 phenomenon because, “when Musharraf stepped in as head of state on October 12, 1999, the harvest was left to glean was significantly more bitter than those of the leaders who had gone before him. Through the active fostering by Zia-ul-Haq, the funding of Saudi Arabia, espoused by the United States, and the venal abandon of Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif the seed of religious fanaticism sown more than two decades earlier had come to confront him as fully grown trees perversely balanced by the empty coffers of state.” The hardening of extremes’, intolerance, militancy and radicalization which triggered violence and terrorism in Pakistan took place as a result of a process of several decades.