The writer is a student at the University of California, Santa Barbara, specialising in International Relations
Professors at Princeton, Stanford, Georgetown and Indiana University — four of America’s elite, and certainly most active institutions — recently published papers on questions surrounding the role of poverty, religion and education on support for militancy. Their observations should upend conventional wisdom that is often at the pulse of debates in the Pakistani media.
We generally assume that poverty is correlated with support for militancy. It’s an intuitive idea and one that has appeal. For instance, we generalise that the poor are more likely to support fringe militant voices for a score of reasons, some of which are related to their not having employment, their desire for discretionary income, anger at the existing social mobility framework and so forth. We hear those stories where poor labourers constrained by their choice of employment are inspired by an appeal to a virulent strain of religious thought, whereby the conclusion results in some form of terrorism. This only implants the idea of a supposed link between income and terrorism. Well, that’s not quite true.
Researchers found that Pakistan’s poor, especially in urban areas such as Karachi and Quetta, are less likely to support claims to militancy than are middle class Pakistanis.
The reasoning is that there are a host of negative externalities correlated with militancy that hit the poor harder that they hit middle class Pakistanis. In other words, because direct effects resulting from militant action hurt the poor more than they affect the middle class Pakistanis, support for militancy is lower among the low-income demographic.
In a broader scope, what this should mean for policymakers is that a focus on aid development targeted towards the poor in order to lessen appeals of terrorist networks is misguided. The $7.5 billion in non-military aid that the Kerry-Lugar Bill provided followed in the footsteps of those who saw a perceived link. As a testament to this finding, conclusions from various reports have assessed the Kerry-Lugar Bill as having fallen short of meeting its goals. The poor, as the researchers observe, may be the more natural allies in the war against terrorism.
We can conclude the same on aspects of religion as well. In light of the recent Boston bombing, debates on the supposed link between religiosity and terrorism resurfaced. Several news networks jumped the gun and connected the two brothers’ Islamic faith to their impetus behind the grisly bombing. Because the younger brother’s Facebook profile indicated that he practised Islam, he was immediately taken to be a radical.
In Pakistan, researchers concluded through a nationally representative survey that no such link exists between one’s religious practice or beliefs and support for militancy. Sure, there are established political parties that espouse and spread hate, but that is not always internalised by their followers.
Lastly, Pakistan currently is home to the second largest number of children out of school. While we worry about Articles 62 and 63 of the Constitution, Article 37 which states that education is the fundamental right of every citizen has been reduced to a footnote. This brings me to the final and predictable observation by researchers at Indiana University: education discourages suicide bombings against civilians.
The hope for these professors doing research is one and the same: to see their proposals and ideas implemented on the ground where real action is taking place. The secondary intent is to inform and inspire debate in the corridors of Islamabad. It would be foolhardy for politicians to ignore the calls coming from the academia.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 2nd, 2013.
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Lame article. Like we say in urdu, 'na sur na pair'.
Whole night we heard the story of yusuf/zulekha in the morning one still asking yusuf was man or woman this is whats going on westren educated peoples.....
" In Pakistan, researchers concluded through a nationally representative survey that no such link exists between one’s religious practice or beliefs and support for militancy."
Mr author, whom are you trying to befool . Extremism derives its strength from religion and they display it with pride.. . OK then please state the reasons for the militant behaviour.? How do you explain the child suicide bombers. . Neither poor nor educated one unless motivated by the religious sentiments would like to die as suicide bomber. Is study of the past of militant persons(dead or alive) have ever been carried out? If so, the results thereof and if not, then it should be done . These will be the real case study to trace the actual reasons. Author saheb apologists have done harm equal if not more than what has been done by the extremists / militants.
Does this mean that the great powers of the world are changing their policies towards countries like Pakistan? Using education and the idea of business and its related profit motive as a concept to bring stability worldwide
@3rdRockFromTheSun: A hundred stars for your post. What is obvious to the World is invisible to apologists who prefer to lead a life of denial.
@3rdRockFromTheSun: "because the moderate majority have and continue to stay silent in the face of the extremist minority." U are very much right here. But let me point out the joys of blasphemy laws here in Pakistan. I know of teachers and scholars who try to generate discussion in their class rooms and other forums regarding the role of religion, propagation of rational ideas, necessity for generating debate in the society, promoting a tolerant, peaceful society. and these people have been accused of blasphemy or at least threatened by it. here in Pakistan, it can be positively life threatening to talk about the rights of minorities and the separation of religion and state. when the seemingly innocuous shares and likes on FB can be turned against a person, one has a very slight hope of fighting the mainstream extremism.
Religion is the mother of all ills agree or not.
O,Allah saved me from Educated one amin suma amin....
Have to differ with the author - between poverty, religion and education - it is religion that plays a key role. While the ordinary suicide bomber in Pakistan may be poor and uneducated; what pushes him (her) over the edge is the religious brainwashing. Most of the other acts of terror (successful or otherwise) in Europe and America in the recent past were conducted by middle class, educated - but religiously brainwashed individuals / groups. From 9/11 to 7/7 to Spanish trains to the Algerian refinery to Boston or the failed plots of the shoe bomber or Times Square - all of these were by the middle class, educated but religiously brainwashed. And things have reached this point, because the moderate majority have and continue to stay silent in the face of the extremist minority. By you ignoring or downplaying the religious aspect in the issue of militancy; you are assuring that there will be no solution. Till you have the courage to bring the religious issue out in the open, expect more of the same fundamentalist approach and more tragedies. Some day, the patience of the West will run out!
PS - The one in Norway was brainwahsed too - but he was high on racial purity / white supremacy - he did not claim to do that in the name of Christ : unlike all the other examples!