In Pakistan, until the mid-1970s, even after General Zia came to power and the Soviet.
invasion of Afghanistan began, there was the more syncretic, less purist interpretation of.
Islam. This was a more modernist trend. The change after this period was perhaps.
influenced by the growing dominance of purist interpretations, as well as the separation.
of East Pakistan in 1971, because it showed that common adherence to Islam was not.
sufficient to hold a nation together. It re-sparked the debate about identity and unity and.
created a traditionalist or purist backlash.
Hunter also talked about how the Muslim world is not hermetically sealed from the rest.
of the world and developments within Muslim nations occur in conjunction with.
developments in the rest of the world. These developments had an impact and reaction in.
countries like Pakistan. The Cold War for example had a huge impact. The third.
Communist International called upon the Muslims of the east to rise up in holy war.
against British imperial power, using the word "jihad-. 60 years later, the west called.
upon the Afghans to fight a jihad against the Soviets.
These are the debates and external developments which contributed to the development.
of Islamic thought among the Muslims of India pre-Partition, and later in Pakistan.
Pakistan is facing these issues once again with renewed urgency - the role of Islam and.
national identity, and questions of modernization and faith - and the debates continue to.
involve both modernists' and purists'. It is important to understand this context, rather.
than simply looking for a taxonomy of militant groups, because those are symptoms of.
the substantial debates common to most Muslim societies today.
The Militant Movement - Professor Mumtaz Ahmad.
Mumtaz Ahmad, Professor of Political Science at Hampton University, began his talk by.
saying that Pakistan has always been a unique case among Muslim nations, because Islam.
is the raison d'etre of the nation and so it will never be a secular' state.
