Dr. Khuram Iqbal is Assistant Professor of Counter-Terrorism at the National Defence University of Pakistan, where he established Pakistan’s first university-based center of excellence on counter-extremism. Previously, he served as Research Coordinator at Pak Institute for Peace Studies, (Islamabad), where he planned and executed number of research projects on radicalization and terrorism in Pakistan. He has also worked as Senior Analyst at the International Centre for Political Violence and Terrorism Research (ICPVTR), Singapore. Dr. Iqbal is the author of The Making of Pakistani Human Bombs (Lexington Press-US) and co-author of Pakistan Terrorism Ground Zero (Reaktion-London) and Negotiating the Siege of Red Mosque (Oxford-Karachi). He earned a doctorate in Policing, Intelligence and Counter-Terrorism from Macquarie University (Australia) and is a graduate in Strategic Studies from the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS), Singapore. He is a member of Council for Asian Transnational Threats Research (CATR), an international body of leading Asian experts on Counter-terrorism and transnational crimes.
Shiite Mobilization and the Transformation of Sectarian Militancy in Pakistan
Historically in Pakistan, Shiite militancy has remained reactive and selective. But with thousands of Pakistani Shiites being recruited and trained by Tehran, the landscape of sectarian militancy is likely to undergo a momentous transformation with a possibility of a head-on confrontation between militant fronts of the two opposing sects. This essay assesses the future impact of Shiite mobilization in Pakistan on the country and how it could transform the local sectarian conflict by fueling radicalization and increasing prospects for ISIS to penetrate and exploit local militant groups to its favor.
