Just as one’s fingers are of unequal length, so are members of a society. A significant section of the society carries soft spot for the extremists, be it religious, ethnic or sectarian. But it does not imply that majority is thus inclined.
In my view Pakistan society in general and polity in particular can be roughly subdivided into 3 categories. For the majority; after the daily struggle to survive; there is hardly any time left to worry about ideological differences. However, few of the so called silent majority would dare going against anyone who is portrayed as doing Allah’s work.
Extremists & their supporters on the other hand, preach absolute obedience to their dogma which in their opinion is the only correct path to Allah with the exclusion of all others. All those with differing beliefs should either conform, leave the country or be eliminated.
Such distorted views are not limited to the present day Islam or Pakistan. One would recall similar mass hysteria for Hindutva following the Advani Rath Yatra which brought BJP to power and the slaughter of thousands of Muslims in Gujarat during the reign of the butcher Modi. Even quintessentially non-violent teachings of Jesus Christ can be twisted to a hateful vindictive creed leading to the mass slaughter of hundreds of thousands of non-Christians during the Crusades
Had the extremist beliefs remained limited to Afghanistan & the Pak- Afghan border regions, situation would not be so disastrous. Main problem is that extremist sympathizers have penetrated all strata of the society. This includes main stream oxford educated politicians such as Imran Khan and a substantial section of PML-N. However except for the religious party politicians, IMO most of these are not die-hard pro- Taliban but only allied with the Right Wing primarily to get votes.
Perception that Pakistan is the breeding ground of cut-throat religious fanatics is primarily due to the public speeches of ploiticians such as ex- Jamaat Islami Munawwar Hassan, who after claiming that TTP butcher Hakimullah Mehsood was “Shaheed” followed it up with another public speech calling for jihad and “Qital fi sabeelallah” meaning slaughter in the name of Allah. This perception is however misplaced.
Liberals may be less vociferous & visible as the extremist loving TV anchors or bigots like JI leaders, but there is still a significant section of Pakistan society holding moderate/ liberal views. Liberals such as I believe that Islam as preached by our holy Prophet (PBUH) teaches more morality and less dogma. Above all it teaches compassion and tolerance; certainly no coercion. Therefore a deeply religious Muslim could not sanction or contemplate barbaric actions such as cold blooded slaughter of school children or beheading of prisoners because of sectarian difference. What amazes me is that an otherwise very intelligent person such as Imran Khan does not realize that overt sympathy towards the extremist TTP is the root cause of an existential threat to the state of Pakistan.
However only time will tell who prevails in the end; personally I don’t believe that forces of darkness represented by the Al-Qaida, ISIS, TTP, LEJ, likes of Munawwar Hassan and burqa clad Mullah Aziz can prevail. Even if the forces of darkness win, theirs would be a Pyrrhic victory and only temporary as in Egypt, thus no need to despair.