Yes, but 'Zia's radicalization and Pakistan's school system' do not factor into the equation of British born and raised citizens. These individuals are being raised in the British school system and in British society, and are being radicalized by extremists in Britain. Islamic radicalization was also occurring earlier than the Afghan Jihad in the Middle East, around the Palestinian occupation and perceived Western support for that occupation. In fact the radicalization during the Afghan Jihad owes itself to the ideology exported from some parts of the Arab world to the region, so it is unfair to point to Pakistan as the source of problems, especially when it comes to homegrown terrorists in Western nations.
First off, the post you replied to in the above was meant to describe only the radicalization of Pakistanis.....not British Pakistanis....Hence you should read it in that context..
However you mentioned that the ideology itself was exported to Pak through the Middle east...a by product of the Israel-Palestine conflict....
However, the fact remains that a large number of folks in Pakistan are being recruited for terror plot worldwide....
so the question is, what makes the Pakistanis (considered some of the most liberal minded muslims around) so malleable to be brainwashed in some cases to carry out such operations....
And the incidence of TTP who are running amuck in your country speaks of the escalation of the situation.....
Education does play a very important part and I feel is a key missing link in understanding the cause of this....though it is also true that education is not a factor that helps resist these ideologies as is the case with the 9/11 bombers etc....
I feel an education overhaul is required....to bring Govt schools and Madrasas into a standard curriculum that promotes religious tolerance and free thinking....
What would or would not have happened in FATA (not Khyber Pakhtunkhwa - formerly NWFP - which is governed under the constitution unlike FATA) had the US not invaded is irrelevant and hypothetical to this discussion. What is very real and very emotional for many people are the civilian casualties, the invasion and the spike in terrorism. That cannot be brushed under the table, and one cannot just blame 'education' alone since many extremists are educated, and many of the homegrown extremists in the West (like the London attackers) are educated in the West, so blaming Pakistan's education system is only relevant in a discussion on Pakistan's social ills and extremism, not the West's.
This does not answer why 90% of the civilian casualties in Pakistan have been a result of suicide bombing and Terrorist attacks, less a result of collateral damage and drone attacks by an invading foreign army....
For all intents and purposes, the TTP are fighting the PA and not the NATO allies.
If the civilian casualties were the call to arms for TTP, essentially you would expect them to attack only security and Govt insitutions and people....Yet that is not the reality on ground....
Hence I feel that this is a radicalization on the likes of the Iranian revolution, where the TTP is fighting against the fabric of the state....
Unlike the Mujahideen, who were fighting occupation by a foreign country, the TTP are fighting natives....
Nevertheless....I do agree that the WOT and Drone attacks may be adding the fuel to the fire....
As far as Madrassa education goes, depends on the Madrassa - some Madrassa's have reformed their curriculum and teach the sciences and mathematics, computer literacy etc. but a lot more needs to be done to bring them ALL on board to provide a modern education and to regulate what they do teach in terms of religious tolerance.
Thanks....I feel like Madrasas are a great social outreach medium,....
However the GOP needs to use it to its advantage....which it hasnt done so, by bringing Madrasas in line with mainstream education....to promote liberal views and free thinking....
They are not 'Pakistani' youth - they are British youth of Pakistani origin, educated and raised in Britain. Also, statements like 'Pakistani youth are more susceptible to extremism' is a generalization. Only a handful have actually taken that step out of a very large British population of Pakistani origin, and I would repeat my argument on that count that it is because of the perceived illegitimate invasion and war the West is waging next to Pakistan, and in some cases in Pakistan, that is the likely driving force behind those handful of cases.
For intents and purposes, the majority of Indians and Pakistanis in the UK should be considered refugees of war...since a lot of them came to the UK due to partition or as a result of the loss of land/property in 47....
As with all refugees of war, they carry the emotional and patriotic baggage that becomes a big influence on the mentality and thinking of their future generations.....
I say the UK Pakistani youth is especially at risk of being radicalized for the following reasons:
1) Lack or confusion in identity sparked by the "acceptance" or amalgamation into British society may lead some of these youth to seek acceptance through the prism of religion or homogenity...hence more susceptible to be moulded into a certain channel of thinking to fit in...
2) Choice of parents to send these youth to Madrasas for religious education where radical Imams indoctrinate these youth
3) The latent emotional baggage of partition, the Indo-Kashmir quagmire etc that may become the spark to follow a radical path to a solution....
However I do agree with you.....radicalization is not limited to British Pakistanis only....
