Frontline Pakistan : The Struggle With Militant Islam - Arz-e-Pak

1 Frontline Pakistan
capacity of society. They argued that because of the odds facing him,
Musharraf had adopted an incremental and gradual approach towards
implementation of his reform agenda. ‘He does not want to act hastily
and in the process evoke an extremist backlash,’ argued a military
spokesman. ‘Breaking away from deeply held customs will take some
time. We believe in bringing change not through revolutionary, but
evolutionary means.’ Musharraf also had to contend with the armed
forces who were deeply steeped in General Zia’s culture.
Because of his government’s failure to deliver, to any substantial
degree, on pledges to contain the growth of jihadist networks, religious
extremism in Pakistan continued to pose a threat to domestic, regional
and international security. Many Pakistani madrasas continued
providing recruits to extremist groups. In July 2005, following the
terrorist attacks in London, Musharraf had admitted his government’s
failure in implementing madrasa reforms. He argued that he was not
politically strong enough to push through measures to curb militant
madrasas. He vowed to clamp down on them, but there has not been
much progress made. The leaders of extremist religious organizations
continued to enjoy virtual immunity from the laws and carried on
preaching their jihadist sectarian ideology, using mosques and
madrasas to recruit new cadres for their cause.
Giving in to pressure from the religious right, the Musharraf
government also backtracked on its pledge to reform discriminatory
Islamic laws that were open to abuse by religious fanatics. Existing
legislation against the incitement of sectarian hatred and violence was
rarely enforced. The jihadist media continued to flourish; audio and
videotapes, books and pamphlets that propagated the most virulent
sectarian views were easily available. The government even failed
to disarm the jihadist private armies which Musharraf had publicly
denounced. The horizontal and vertical fragmentation of society along
political, religious and ethnic lines, which has intensified over the past
few years, posed the most serious problem for both Musharraf’s and
Pakistan’s survival.