TERRORISM

Pakistan has been gripped by terrorism in recent times.It has been attributed to the government allying itself with the united states in the global war on terror.currently,the biggest threat to the state and citizens of Pakistan stems from the politically motivated killing of civilians and police officials,possibly attributed to General Zia ul-Haq's controversial "Islamization" policies,the president of the country in the 1980s.His tenure saw Pakistan's exceeding involvement in Soviet-Afghan war, which led to greater influx of ideologically driven Afghan Arabs in the tribal areas and the explosion of Kalashnikov and drugs culture.The state and its intelligence agency Inter-services Intelligence in alliance with the United state and central Intelligence agency encouraged the "Mujahideen" to fight the proxy war against the Soviet union, most of which were never disarmed after the war. Some of these groups were later activated under the behest of the state in the form of Lashkar-e-Taiba,Harkat-ul-Mujahideen and others were encouraged like Taliban to achieve state's agenda in Kashmir and Afghanistan.The same groups are now taking on the state itself.

From the summer of 2007 to late 2009, more than 5,500 people were killed in suicide and other attacks on civilians.The attacks have been attributed to a number of sources: sectarian violence - mainly between Sunni and Shia Muslims-the origin of which is blamed by some on initiated from 1911 to 1988;the easy availability of guns and explosive of a "Kalashnikov culture" and influx of ideologically driven "Afghan Arabs" based in or near Pakistan, originating from and the subsequent war against the Afghan communists in the 1980s which blew back into Pakistan;Islamist insurgent groups and forces such as the Taliban and Lashkar-e-Taiba; Pakistan's thousand of fundamentalist madrassas which are thought by some to provide training for little except jihad; secessionists movements- the most significant of which is the Balochistan liberation movement-blamed on regionalism problematic in a country with Pakistan's diverse culture,languages,traditions and customs.