New report reveals ‘How educated youth are attracted to militancy?’

A new analysis by Babar Ayaz tackles factors that lead educated youth in Pakistan to be attracted to militancy, and reasons behind looking to Pakistan as an easy hunting ground for the militant predators.

For the last many years, it’s the same basic question: why militant Islamic organizations are finding it easy to influence even educated civilian and military people? Every time we discussed this issue, the Pakistani government pledges that it is going to develop an anti-extremism narrative and check the sources from where they get the inspiration to join the extremist parties and militant Islamic groups. But no strategy to check militant Islamism is developed.

First, we should just look at some main factors which make Pakistan an easy hunting ground for the militant predators. Right from school, we are indoctrinated with a conservative Islamic ideology and history where each Muslim invader is glorified and a narcissist interpretation of history is drilled in our mind.

Critical thinking is discouraged in our schools which is a pre-requisite for any enlightened society. Saleem Ali in his seminal book on ‘Islam and Education’ has underlined “It is important, however, to remember the distinction between formal education and regimented education. The ability to have critical thinking skills is central to a constructive formal education.”

The Madrassahs’ curriculum is even more outdated and exclusive according to the sect it belongs to. Jihadis, who lay down their lives in operations in Afghanistan, India and Pakistan, are projected as heroes and romanticised.

The Army forces have managed to motivate their rank and file to fight against Islamist militants despite the fact that our soliders are taught a narrative that they are defenders of a country which is a fortress of Islam. But this has not happened without exceptions where some insiders were involved in terrorist activities

A good number of mosques are also used to propagate that the entire world is conspiring against Islam. Conspiracy theories are easy to sell in weak nations as there is a tendency to pass on the blame and discourage introspection. Such theories are amplified with messages in support of waging Islamic Jihad by the Urdu media. TV channels and newspapers are intimidated by these militant groups to give them positive coverage. The jihadi have over 50 publications which attract the youth to the various shades of Islamic ‘Khilafat’ and Al Qaeda doctrine.

In the past, the middle class youth who wanted to change the exploitative system, were attracted by the socialist ideology. But after the set back of the Soviet model, they are more attracted by the Islamist extremist ideology. By temperament, the youth wants revolutionary changes in the existing system of governance. This cannot be delivered by the evolutionary democratic capitalist system. Thus, the Islamic militant organisations attract the youth who are already mentally prepared at the school level that the country was made to be an Islamic state. Though there is no model of a purely Islamic state in the world at present, it has the appeal for an average mosque going Muslim. The tactics adopted by the Islamic militant groups are also not that of revolutionary groups but at best can be defined as anarchism.

The recruiters of the extremist militant organisations watched closely such students and young men who visit mosques regularly and then indulge them in the discussions on the need for establishing a true Islamic state. And those who are more enthusiastic are recruited for the terrorist activities.

We continue to dangerously mix religion with politics and our security policy. The Pakistani establishment also started using Jihadi organisations to destablise India and Afghanistan. A major mistake because it was bound to boomerang sooner than later. It is bound to influence the handlers of the Jihadi organisations first, because they are in touch with them. It is no wonder that Islamism has penetrated the forces. The professionalism of the Pakistan Armed Forces should be given credit that despite the fact that our officers and jawans are trained with the narrative that they are defenders of a country which is a fortress of Islam, the army officers have managed to motivate their rank and file fighting against the Islamist militants. But not without a few exceptions as some insiders were involved in terrorist activities.

So what is to be done? The security establishment should shun the Jihadi ideology and support to such groups; closely monitor that in the name of preaching Islam no hate mongering is indoctrinated to its rank and file; and purge the supporters of these organisations. The politicians should take the ideological challenge and develop a communication strategy scientifically to convince people that the terrorists have declared war against Pakistanis using religion and that we have to stand united for building a modern democratic secular Pakistan. It is not war against terrorism; it is defending Pakistanis from terrorism. Nothing short of that will work now.

There are many blind spots and the largest is that we cannot see that our security forces need spring cleaning. The security forces should realise that their slogan ‘Jihad fe sabil Allah’ (Jihad in the name of God) is the slogan of the Jihadi organisations as well. The good development is that for the first time the Army Chief has declared in his speech that only the state can declare Jihad. By implication can we presume that the non-state actors who are fighting their own Jihad in Afghanistan and India would not be supported by the establishment anymore?

With the rise in Islamic extremism in the country, organised propaganda is promoting grand Islamic Jihad by various Al Qaeda and Islamic State franchisees. The intrusion of the ideology of Jihad and establishing “Islamic Emirates of Pakistan” or an “Islamic Khilafat” in Pakistan cannot be stopped by any operational security measures. The model for this Islamic ‘Emirates’ or a ‘Khilafat’ is that of Taliban’s rule in Afghanistan and more recently the brutal IS.

What is not recognised at the civil-military policy making level is that while the military is selectively fighting the terrorist organisations and thousands of our security personnel have been martyred, they have not challenged the ideology of Jihad. Thousands of mosques, madaris and religious organisations are preaching Jihad against the West and its allied governments in the Muslim countries. Aren’t we blind to this glaring fact?