Madiha Afzal joins a galaxy of recent writers who are attempting to understand Pakistan’s deep affiliation with Islamic extremism and violence and to speculate on how the country can be reformed. This is an urgent challenge as over 25,000 Pakistanis have been killed in extremist violence over the past 10 years, even as its jihadi institutions are central to the proliferation of extremism in its neighbourhood.
Emerging as a new nation, with no traditions, values or viable institutions, unlike India, Pakistan’s early leaders felt the need to use religion to define their nation as different from India, even as they
