Preventing Violent Extremism in Pakistan and Enhancing National Security by Managing Sectarian Undercurrents

Several fault lines effect national security of Pakistan and sectarian fault line is among the most hazardous. Sectarian rifts have been unfortunately misused often to destabilize the country as a 5th Gen Warfare tactic or to weaken/eliminate one political power for the advantage of the other. Therefore, sectarianism and unregulated religious groups continue to remain the most dangerous faultiness in Pakistan which if not coped timely, intelligently and deliberately, can be misused against the country in future. To be proactive, adopting the approach of prevention of extremism and violent extremism is the need of time. No doubt, religion is among the most fundamental characteristics of Pakistani society. It is therefore important to answer the question about role of religion in national psychology of Pakistan. Discourse utilizing religious texts is most of the time constructed to achieve certain objectives which are sometime contrary to the true spirit of Islam. The aim of this paper is to highlight vital and decisive role of the clergy of all sects of Pakistan to tackle such serious issues carefully. Qualitative research methodology is adopted for this research. Different roles of clergy for peaceful co-existence are elaborated in this paper along with recommendations, which can help reduce the hatred, extremism and instability caused be sectarian violence to enhance national security of Pakistan.