Islamist Extremism: Challenge to Security in South Asia

K. Warikoo

K Warikoo is Professor at the School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, where he heads the Central Asian Studies Programme. read more

Emergence of radical and extremist Islamist movements has proved to be a major source of instability in South and Central Asia. Radical Islamist groups emphasise that political power is indispensable to the establishment of an Islamic state. Though Muslims like non-Muslims have multiple identities – religious, ethnic, tribal, linguistic or territorial, the emphasis by the Islamists on the Islamic communal identity puts them in collision course with the state and other communities. The practice of pan-Islamism, which is based on the concept of Ummah transcending national boundaries, has led to violence and turmoil in parts of South and Central Asia and elsewhere. Islamist extremists pose a challenge to the pluralistic social order and inter-religious harmony and the efforts to construct secular and democratic polity in the region. This is clear from the recent experiences of Afghanistan, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Jammu & Kashmir state of India