Publication

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.