The National Sufi Council: Redefining the Islamic Republic of Pakistan through a discourse on Sufism after 9/11
[Thesis]
Teresa Ann Drage
University of Western Sydney (Australia)
2015
218
Place of publication: United States, Ann Arbor; ISBN=9781073980048
Ph.D.
University of Western Sydney (Australia)
2015
On September 11, 2001, the United States suffered four terrorist attacks on its soil by a group later identified as Al-Qaeda. The attacks, the worst in US history, resulted in immense destruction and loss of life. For the United States, and for a number of countries around the world, 9/11 constituted a major historical turning point which prompted a series of responses aimed at countering terrorism. For Pakistan, the pragmatic decision to join the US-led military campaign in Afghanistan immediately transformed the nation into a front-line state in the 'war on terror' being waged on its western border. In the years that followed, Pakistan experienced an escalation in terrorist-related incidents and fatalities across all four of its provinces and in the tribal areas. The rise in religious extremism and violence made Pakistan progressively less safe for its many citizens. Moreover, amidst media reports of ongoing terrorism in a nuclear-capable Pakistan, western audiences increasingly viewed Pakistan, and Islam, as synonymous with intolerance, militancy, and terrorism.