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Poverty does not breed extremism in Pakistan, study finds

The findings turn upside down long held perception that poor people find comfort zones in militancy as its proponents offer them food, shelter and some gainful employment besides education to their children

Spending millions of pounds on development in Pakistan will do nothing to keep young men out of the clutches of the Taliban, according to an extensive survey of Pakistani attitudes towards extremism. The study, conducted by researchers from prestigious American universities, has found no link between poverty and support for militant groups.

The findings turn upside down long held perception that poor people find comfort zones in militancy as its proponents offer them food, shelter and some gainful employment besides education to their children. The sample size of the survey is not large at 6000 but it is very broad based in its depth and sweep.  In a manner of speaking, the study doesn’t come as an absolute surprise since the religious parties have not been voted to power even once on their own strength in Pakistan’. 

By conventional wisdom, religion is as opium of the poor for ages, and Pakistan emergence as the crucible of terrorism is attributed to the sway of fundamentalists over the masses. It is also a fact that the West has been channelizing aid to Pakistan to a certain extent as a part of its fight against terror.  The assumption is ‘if you get aid right in Pakistan, it will reduce the possibility of terrorism on the streets of London’. 

But Christine Fair, a South Asia expert at Georgetown University, and one of the authors of the new study,  says there is no evidence for such sweeping assertions. The study suggested that poorer Pakistanis were actually less likely to support extremist groups than more affluent, better educated people, according to her. 

During the study, the respondents were asked how much they supported different policies – the use of peace jirgas or reform of school curricula for example. A test group was told the policies were connected with Kashmiri terror groups or the Afghan Taliban.

The difference between their responses and those of a control group, which was not told of any connection, was taken as a measure of support for the militant groups. 

When compared with socio-economic indicators, the researchers found poorer people were less likely to support extremist politics.  The authors of the study concluded therefore: ‘Poorer people in Pakistan are likely to be the victims of suicide bombings and other terror attacks, and therefore are more likely to have negative feelings towards militants’. 

This does mean there are no good reasons to invest in education and poverty mitigation in Pakistan. There are perfectly good reasons to do that. But the primary responsibility for these two goals rests with Pakistan government.  Outsiders- the rich nations can only help to supplement the home effort. Sadly, governance, security, rule of law and civic facilities are of least concern to the dispensation in Islamabad. This is clear from its lopsided priorities even as it is acknowledged that financial poverty and extremism could lead to political instability.

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