Contemporary Authors

• LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/khuram-iqbal-b3570921/

  Khuram Iqbal
  Assistant Professor National Defense University-Islamabad
  Center for Policing, Intelligence and Counter-Terrorism, Sydney, Australia Department of Policing, Intelligence and Counter-Terrorism
  Sydney, Australia 427 427 connections
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  Khuram Iqbal, PhD in Policing, Intelligence and Counter-Terrorism from the Macquarie University, Australia, has previously served as Research Coordinator at Pak Institute for Peace Studies, Islamabad. At PIPS, he planned and coordinated various research projects on Conflict and Terrorism in Pakistan. A graduate in Strategic Studies from the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS), Singapore, he was working as senior Analyst at International Center for Political Violence and Terrorism Research (ICPVTR), Singapore. During his stint with ICPVTR, Mr. Iqbal, co-authored “Pakistan Terrorism Ground Zero” a book published by Reaktion Books London.
  Apart from “Pakistan Terrorism Ground Zero” Mr. Iqbal carried extensive research on wide range of issues, particularly in the areas of radicalization and counter-terrorism. His papers on Transformation of Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, Suicide terrorism in Pakistan, NATO supply lines and youth radicalization in Pakistan have been acknowledged by the leading experts in the field and policy makers as important contributions to the literature available on regional security issues. Khuram Iqbal is also a member of Council for Asian Transnational Threats Research (CATR), a recognized body of leading Asian experts on Counter-terrorism and transnational crimes.
  As a trainer, Mr. Iqbal has been engaged in various initiatives aimed at the capacity building of PIPS research staff. He has also conducted short-training courses for LEAs in Pakistan, Singapore, Turkey and Australia. He has also appeared as an expert on international and Pakistani media including Bloomberg, CNBC, Voice of America, BBC World Radio, Hindustan Times, The Nation (Thailand), Straight Times (Singapore), and Rohi TV (Pakistan) See lessSee less of undefined summary
  Experience
  Center for Policing, Intelligence and Counter-Terrorism, Sydney, Australia
  Researcher
  Company NameCenter for Policing, Intelligence and Counter-Terrorism, Sydney, Australia
  Dates EmployedJan 2013 – Present Employment Duration4 yrs 3 mos
  LocationSydney, Australia
  Centre for Transnational Crime Prevention (CTCP)
  Researcher
  Company NameCentre for Transnational Crime Prevention (CTCP)
  Dates EmployedFeb 2011 – Dec 2012 Employment Duration1 yr 11 mos
  Pak Institute for Peace Studies
  Research Coordinator
  Company NamePak Institute for Peace Studies
  Dates EmployedNov 2009 – Feb 2011 Employment Duration1 yr 4 mos
  RSIS, NTU, Singapore
  Senior Research Analyst
  Company NameRSIS, NTU, Singapore
  Dates EmployedJul 2007 – Dec 2009 Employment Duration2 yrs 6 mos
  Education
  Department of Policing, Intelligence and Counter-Terrorism
  Department of Policing, Intelligence and Counter-Terrorism
  Degree Name Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) Field Of Study Policing, Intelligence and Counter-Terrorism
  Dates attended or expected graduation 2011 – 2014
  My thesis entitled "Evolution of Suicide Terrorism: A Case Study of Pakistan" tested existing theories of suicide terrorism in case of Pakistan.
  See less See less about Department of Policing, Intelligence and Counter-Terrorism, Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
  Rajaratnam School of International Studies
  Rajaratnam School of International Studies
  Degree Name MSc Field Of Study Strategic Studies
  Dates attended or expected graduation 2007 – 2009
  S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies
  S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies
  Degree Name MSc Field Of Study Strategic Studies
  Dates attended or expected graduation 2007 – 2009
  Featured Skills & Endorsements
  Research See 43 endorsements for Research 43

  Endorsed by Shariful Islam and 1 other who is highly skilled at this

  Endorsed by 3 of Khuram’s colleagues at Pakistan Institute for Peace Studies (PIPS)
  Policy See 31 endorsements for Policy 31

  Endorsed by Katy Oh Hassig, who is highly skilled at this
  International Relations See 30 endorsements for International Relations 30

  Endorsed by Shariful Islam and 1 other who is highly skilled at this
  View 25 more View 25 more skills
  Accomplishments
  Khuram has 5 languages5
  Languages
  Language nameArabic
  Elementary proficiency
  Language nameEnglish
  Professional working proficiency
  Language namePunjabi
  Professional working proficiency
  Language nameSeraiki
  Professional working proficiency
  Language nameUrdu
  Native or bilingual proficiency
  See fewer languages
  Khuram has 4 publications4
  Publications
  See publication Book Review: Knowing al-Qaeda: the epistemology of terrorism
  publication titleBook Review: Knowing al-Qaeda: the epistemology of terrorism
  publication descriptionJournal of Policing, Intelligence and Counter Terrorism
  publication dateMar 7, 2014
  Authors
  Khuram IqbalDalbir Ahlawat
  publication titleNegotiating The Siege of Lal Masjid
  publication descriptionDespite the availability of numerous media accounts, the finer details and caveats of the Lal Masjid siege remain sketchy. It is the objective of this book to illuminate the issue by providing an in-depth analytical account of the events that unfolded, with specific emphasis on the successes and failures of the negotiation process. Further, the book attempts to translate the lessons learnt into practical guidelines for crisis negotiators, incident commanders, and political decision makers.
  publication descriptionOxford University Press (Karachi)
  publication dateFeb 10, 2014
  Authors
  Khuram IqbalAdam Dolnik
  See publication Terrorist lifecycles: a case study of Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan
  publication titleTerrorist lifecycles: a case study of Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan
  publication descriptionThe spillover effects of the war in Afghanistan gave birth to a new breed of terrorist groups in the tribal areas of Pakistan. Inspired by al-Qaeda's ideology, Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) is at the pinnacle of this list. Through the application of theories available on the terrorist lifecycle, this paper analyses the factors that led to the emergence, rise, and downfall of the TTP. The paper argues that the organisation conforms to the general trends of a terrorist lifecycle and, having lost critical elements of support and survival, the TTP's demise in the near future is predictable.
  publication descriptionJournal of Policing, Intelligence and Counter Terrorism
  publication dateMay 29, 2013
  Authors
  Khuram Iqbal
  See publication Pakistan Terrorism Ground Zero
  publication titlePakistan Terrorism Ground Zero
  publication descriptionAs made abundantly clear in the classified documents recently made public by WikiLeaks, Pakistan is the keystone in the international fight against terrorism today. After the US-led coalition targeted terrorist groups operating in Afghanistan, these groups, including al Qaeda and the Taliban, relocated to the Federally Administered Tribal Area of Pakistan. From its base in this remote, inhospitable region of Pakistan, al Qaeda and its associated cells have planned, prepared, and executed numerous terrorist attacks around the world, in addition to supporting and waging insurgencies in Iraq, Afghanistan, Yemen, Somalia, and elsewhere.

  This book is the first detailed analysis of the myriad insurgent groups working in Pakistan. Written by well-known expert on global terrorism Rohan Gunaratna and Khuram Iqbal, a leading scholar in Pakistan, the book examines and reviews the nature, structure, and agendas of the groups, their links to activists in other countries, such as India and Iran, and the difficulties of defeating terrorism in this part of the world. Drawing on extensive field research and interviews with government officials and former terrorists, the authors argue that Pakistan faces grave and continuing pressures from within, and that without steadfast international goodwill and support, the threats of extremism, terrorism, and insurgency will continue to grow.

  This timely and necessary book argues that if the international community is to win the battle against ideological extremism and operational terrorism around the world, then Pakistan should be in the vanguard of the fight.
  publication descriptionReaktion Books (London)
  publication dateFeb 10, 2010
  Authors
  Khuram Iqbal
  See fewer publications
  Khuram has 2 projects2
  Projects
  Project nameEvolution of Suicide Terrorism: A Case Study of Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan
  Feb 2014 – Feb 2014
  Teammates
  Khuram Iqbal
  See project Youth Radicalization in PakistanSee project
  Project nameYouth Radicalization in Pakistan
  Project descriptionDesigning Questionnaires
  Conducting Surveys
  Analyzing Findings
  Jan 2010 – Jan 2010
  Teammates
  Khuram IqbalWajahat Ali
  See fewer projects
  Khuram has 1 honor1
  Honor & Award
  honor titleInternational Macquarie University Research Excellence Scholarship
  honor dateJan 2013
  honor issuerMacquarie University

• Turkic Council - http://www.turkkon.org/TC-UNAOC/youthforPVE/sayfalar.asp?LanguageID=1&cid=3&id=0&id2=26

  Khuram Iqbal

  Dr. Khuram Iqbal is a distinguished authority on terrorism in Pakistan having authored “The Making of Pakistani Human Bombs” (Lexington-US) and co-authored “Pakistan Terrorism Ground Zero” (Reaktion-London) and “Negotiating the Siege of Red Mosque” (Oxford-Karachi). After receiving a doctorate degree in Policing, Intelligence and Counter-Terrorism from Macquarie University (Australia) he joined National Defence University of Pakistan as an Assistant Professor of Counter-Terrorism and created Pakistan’s first university-based centre 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. A graduate in Strategic Studies from the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS), Singapore, Khuram Iqbal has also worked as senior Analyst at the International Centre for Political Violence and Terrorism Research (ICPVTR), 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.

• ProCon.org - http://drones.procon.org/view.source.php?sourceID=013192

  Khuram Iqbal, PhD Biography
  Title:
  Assistant Professor in the Department of Peace & Conflict Studies at National Defence University
  Position:
  Con to the question "Should the United States Continue Its Use of Drone Strikes Abroad?"
  Reasoning:
  "As far as US drone strikes in Pakistan are concerned, they are tactically successful but strategically counterproductive. No doubt, these drone strikes have managed to kill high-profile terrorist leaders such as Baitullah Mehsud and Hakimullah Mehsud. But look at the cost. If you look at the official figures collected by independent researchers, attempts to kill 41 militant commanders have resulted in the deaths of estimated 1,200 people. It means that for each militant commander the US has killed more than 30 civilians. So again collateral damage on such a high scale does not bode well for Pakistan's national counter-terrorism policy that seeks to win over the population in conflict regions of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA)...

  [T]errorist groups in Pakistan are fighting with an anti-American agenda. They justify their violence against the Pakistani state and society as result of Islamabad's support for the US occupation of Afghanistan. So to undo this perception, the US must stop the drone strikes in the tribal areas of Pakistan and let the Pakistani state deal with these terrorist organizations with all its indigenous resources."
  RT, "Strong Link Between US Drone Strikes and Rise of Suicide Terrorism in Pakistan," rt.com, Apr. 28, 2015
  Theoretical Expertise Ranking:
  Experts
  Individuals with PhDs, JDs, or equivalent advanced degrees in fields relevant to the legal or strategic use of drone strikes; high-level military commanders; military officers with experience piloting drones; and executive-level federal government officials significantly involved in drone strikes and related issues. [Note: Experts definition varies by site.]
  Involvement and Affiliations:
  Assistant Professor, Department of Peace & Conflict Studies, National Defence University (Islamabad, Pakistan)
  Researcher and Tutor, Centre for Policing, Intelligence and Counter-Terrorism, Jan. 2013-Mar. 2014
  Researcher, Centre for Transnational Crimes Prevention, Feb. 2011-Nov. 2012
  Head of Research, Pak Institute for Peace Studies, Nov. 2009-Jan. 2011
  Senior Analyst and Tutor, International Centre for Political Violence and Terrorism Research, July 2007-Nov. 2009
  Researcher, Pak Institute for Peace Studies, 2005-2006
  Education:
  PhD, International Security Studies, Macquarie University (Australia), 2014
  MSc, Strategic Studies, Nanyang Technological University (Singapore), 2009
  BA, Humanities, Punjab University (Pakistan), 2004
  Contact Info:
  Phone: None found
  Fax: None found
  Email: khuramiqbal@ndu.edu.pk
  Website: None found
  Select Publications:
  Cowritten with Rohan Gunaratna, Pakistan: Terrorism Ground Zero, 2011
  Other:
  Speaks Urdu, English, Punjabi, and some Arabic
  Quoted in:
  1. Should the United States Continue Its Use of Drone Strikes Abroad?

• Middle East Institute - http://www.mei.edu/profile/khuram-iqbal

  Khuram Iqbal
  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.

  E-Mail: rkhuramiqbal@gmail.com

QUOTED: "Iqbal deserves praise for his painstaking research and analysis of a phenomenon that is ... rarely studied in depth."

Iqbal, Khuram. Making of Pakistani human bombs
A. Mazumdar
CHOICE: Current Reviews for Academic Libraries. 53.10 (June 2016): p1540.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2016 American Library Association CHOICE
http://www.ala.org/acrl/choice/about
Listen
Full Text:
Iqbal, Khuram. Making of Pakistani human bombs. Lexington Books, 2015. 212p bibl Index afp ISBN 9781498516488 cloth, $85.00; ISBN 9781498516495 ebook, $84.99

(cc) 53-4567

HV6433

MARC

What factors are responsible for the intensification of suicide attacks in Pakistan since 9/11? Which groups are primarily responsible for carrying out these attacks? What is the background of the attackers? Is suicide terrorism in Pakistan comparable to what is seen in the Middle East? Basing his book on interviews of unsuccessful suicide attackers, recorded videos of deceased attackers, and audio/video materials provided by terrorist groups themselves, Iqbal (National Defense Univ.) pieces together a picture of suicide terrorism in Pakistan. The author claims that feelings of revenge and the perceived effectiveness of the tactic are the primary motivating factors behind suicide attacks. Understanding the nature of suicide terrorism in Pakistan may make it possible to develop effective policies to address this problem. The author's findings shed light on the implications of the country's ongoing war against the Pakistani Taliban and its allied groups as well as the global war on terror. Iqbal deserves praise for his painstaking research and analysis of a phenomenon that is often reported in the news but rarely studied in depth. Summing Up: ** Recommended. All levels/libraries.--A. Mazumdar; University of St. Thomas

Mazumdar, A.

• Loytelilansi
  https://loytelilansi.files.wordpress.com/2016/11/aehs.pdf
  Word count: 283

  QUOTED: "The Pakistani case study of suicide-terrorism demonstrates unique characteristics, hence it needs to be understood and countered through a context-specific and multi-level approach."

  The Making of Pakistani HumanBombsThe Making of Pakistani Human Bombs#230 pages #1498516491, 9781498516495#Lexington Books, 2015 #2015 #KhuramIqbalA multi-level analysis of Pakistani humanbombs reveals that suicide terrorism iscaused by multiple factors with perceivedeffectiveness, vengeance, poverty, andreligious fundamentalism playing a varyingrole at the individual, organizational, andenvironmental levels. Nationalism andresistance to foreign occupation appear asthe least relevant factors behind suicideterrorism in Pakistan. The findings of thisresearch are based on a multi-level analysisof suicide bombings, incorporating bothprimary and secondary data. In this study,the author also decodes personal,demographic, economic and maritalcharacteristics of Pakistani human bombs.On average, Pakistani suicide bombers arethe youngest but the deadliest in the world,and more than 71 percent of their victimsare civilians. Earlier concepts of a weak linklinking terrorism with poverty andilliteracy do not hold up against the recent
  data gathered on the post-9/11 generation offighters in Pakistan (in suicidal andnon-suicidal categories), as the majority offighters from a variety of terroristorganizations are economically deprivedand semi-literate. The majority of Pakistanihuman bombs come from rural backgrounds,with very few from major urban centres.Suicide bombings in Pakistan remain amale-dominated phenomenon, with mostbombers being single men. Demographicprofiling of Pakistani suicide bombers, basedon a random sample of 80 failed andsuccessful attackers, dents the notion thatAmerican drone strikes play a primary rolein promoting terrorism in all itsmanifestations. The study concludes thatprevious scholarly attempts to explainsuicide bombings are largely based onMiddle Eastern data, thus their applicationin the case of Pakistan can be misleading.The Pakistani case study of suicideterrorism demonstrates uniquecharacteristics, hence it needs to beunderstood and countered through acontext-specific and multi-level approach.

• Friday Times
  http://www.thefridaytimes.com/tft/firefighting/
  Word count: 1474

  QUOTED: "a new book by Adam Dolnik and Khuram Iqbal –titled Negotiating the siege of Lal Masjid and published by Oxford University Press – digs deep into the siege and provides an insightful yet dispassionate indictment on how the Pakistani government attempted to deal with the confrontation and why the negotiations to end the siege peacefully failed."
  "Though the book does not unearth any new eye-opening details, it is an essential read for everyone who wants to understand how effective negotiations can achieve better outcomes and contains lessons for crisis negotiators, incident commanders, law enforcing agencies and political decision makers."

  Zubair Azam

  The rule of General Musharraf saw many a controversial decision, but perhaps none had a more lasting consequence than the one to storm the Lal Masjid in the summer of 2007. It was the siege of the Red Mosque in Islamabad, and its bloody ending, that marked the beginning of Musharraf’s 11-year rule and the expansion of a catastrophic war from periphery to the center of Pakistan. Between 11 July (when Operation Silence ended) and 31 August 2007, there were 18 suicide bombings in various parts of Pakistan. Was such an outcome inevitable?

  Despite the significance of the event, politically and ideologically motivated maneuvering of facts has led to a poor understanding of the circumstances around the incident. But a new book by Adam Dolnik and Khuram Iqbal –titled Negotiating the siege of Lal Masjid and published by Oxford University Press – digs deep into the siege and provides an insightful yet dispassionate indictment on how the Pakistani government attempted to deal with the confrontation and why the negotiations to end the siege peacefully failed.

  The Lal Masjid saga began with the demolition of Amir Hamza mosque, built illegally on government land, after the Capital Development Authority’s decision to demolish 80 other illegally built mosques and seminaries in Rawalpindi and Islamabad.

  The government negotiated from a point of weakness
  Jamia Hafsa, the seminary for girls adjoining Lal Masjid – supervised by Maulana Abdul Aziz and his brother Ghazi Abdul Rashid – was among them. Since 2001, the Jamia Hafsa had been expanding over a 3,389 square-yard plot adjacent to the mosque.

  First, the CDA demolished the Amir Hamza mosque – the first sign that the government’s patience was running out. Sensing a threat to Jamia Hafsa, scores of Burqa-clad students raided and occupied a Children’s Library adjacent to their seminary, demanding the demolished mosque be rebuilt.

  The government caved in soon, and then federal minister Ijazul Haq laid the foundation stone of a new mosque in February 2007.

  The sense of achievement emboldened the students and clerics of Lal Masjid, who first started what they called a campaign against vice in the neighborhood, kidnapping alleged prostitutes and Chinese women, harassing video shop owners and demanding immediate implementation of Sharia law in the entire country.

  The government wavered between wanting to act tough and trying to avoid a fallout, appeasing and emboldening the ambitions of the Lal Masjid clerics in the process. The authors emphasize this point throughout the book, stating that “from the start, Government approached the negotiations from a point of weakness, demonstrating willingness to change its own legal verdicts as Abdul Rashid Ghazi moved goal posts. The Lal Masjid students took radical and illegal actions, only to be allowed to do so time and time again.”

  This created a perception of saber-rattling and desensitized students to the threat of possible use of force. “Besides, the possibility of an armed assault having been publically debated for months had allowed time to those inside to prepare by stockpiling food, weapons, ammunition and a mental expectation of the possibility of a prolonged siege… the element of surprise was thus lost.”

  By the time police, rangers and army personnel finally barricaded the Lal Masjid on July 3, forces had moved in and out three times. The militants inside had enough time and warning to make preparations for an armed resistance, with sandbags placed on the walls, gas masks, water buckets, and wet rags.

  The authors stress that the authorities had invested considerable effort into negotiating a peaceful resolution to the crisis. The government used a wide range of third party intermediaries, including politicians, clerics, human rights activists, and militant leaders. But they “lacked basic instructions from authorities on how to behave, what to say, what to do in certain situations and what to avoid…. their scope of authority was never fully clarified.”

  Clerics and ministers had made proactive counter offers to the Lal Masjid administration without having the authority, leading to a loss of trust. As their distrust of religious leaders grew, “the reliance on militant and like-minded allies further diminished influence of non-violent actors/clerics… a growing sense of betrayal and isolation along with perceived divine sanction for their actions, led to increased radicalism and siege mentality.”

  By the second day of the siege, Abdul Rashid Ghazi showed willingness for a conditional surrender if he were given a safe passage. The arrest of Abdul Aziz, the book notes, provided a golden opportunity, which was mishandled. “The form in which Abdul Aziz was interviewed (clad in the same Burqa in which he was arrested while trying to escape) was counter-productive. It sent the message of public humiliation… Had the authorities allowed Abdul Aziz to save face and send a message to his followers in a dignified manner, it could have been more productive or at least less destructive.”

  At least 1,221 male and female students had left the Lal Masjid by Day 3. Many, however, remained inside. The government claimed they were being held hostage. According to the authors, the “students who were inside at the time of the siege, said they were never held inside by force”. But the book notes that this does not mean there was complete freedom to leave. “Psychological factors including peer pressure, emotional extortion based on abandoning comrades in moment of crisis, scare rhetoric about what awaited outside meant that there were other factors involved.”

  Meanwhile, “the statements of Ghazi on the issue of surrender were an important indicator of progress”, notes the book. He first said he would surrender if the forces were withdrawn, and later demanded a public surrender in the presence of the media. Last ditch efforts on part of the negotiators produced an agreement between a delegation led by Chudhry Shujaat, and Abdul Rashid Ghazi, which included safe passage for him and his family. But Musharraf wanted a set of conditions not immediately acceptable to Ghazi, and issued a 30-minute deadline for the negotiations team. “This decision, in the light of the immediate and strategic fallout, was anything but a disaster.” What circumstances led to this decision by Musharraf are not clearly highlighted and the analysis could have been enriched by including the version of the former president.

  By that time, 19 people, including a colonel of Special Services Group, Rangers personnel, journalists, and seminary students had been killed during violent clashes and sporadic incidents of shooting between law enforcement agencies and students holed up inside the mosque. “This meant that a threshold of lethal violence had already been crossed.”

  Regardless of the failure of negotiations, Abdul Rashid Ghazi had masterminded a brilliant PR campaign from inside the Lal Masjid during the siege. Ghazi allegedly used 200 pre-paid SIM cards, monitored all incoming and outgoing calls through a computerized exchange and operated an illegal FM radio station out of the mosque. The media interest in itself turned Ghazi into a contemporary celebrity, increasing his sense of importance and invulnerability and “complicating the negotiation efforts designed to achieve peaceful resolution.”

  A decision was made to storm the mosque, and by July 11, the Operation Silence was over. Abdul Rashid Ghazi and at least 100 others died.

  We will never know with certainty whether Ghazi would have eventually surrendered, but the authors of the book note that the siege appeared to feature all characteristics of a ‘negotiable incident’.

  The post-operation media strategy of the government also gets heavy criticism. “It was poorly coordinated and too heavily reliant on deception and unpersuasively clumsy propaganda,” the book notes.

  The fallout of the siege included splits in the Jihadi movement with groups traditionally close to the military establishment suffered fractionalization, and a number of their foot soldiers deserted and relocated to FATA. The book cites the examples of Asmatullah Muaviya and Ilyas Kashmiri.

  Though the book does not unearth any new eye-opening details, it is an essential read for everyone who wants to understand how effective negotiations can achieve better outcomes and contains lessons for crisis negotiators, incident commanders, law enforcing agencies and political decision makers.

• Perspectives on Terrorism
  http://www.terrorismanalysts.com/pt/index.php/pot/article/view/159/html
  Word count: 755

  QUOTED: "Gunaratna and Iqbal’s assessment can serve as a valuable tool to shape a comprehensive strategic policy to defeat terrorism in Pakistan. The book also provides counterterrorism analysts with a much-needed roadmap of the multiple variables and subtleties in action that have affected, and will undoubtedly continue to affect, much of the rest of the world."

  Reviewed by Madeleine Gruen

  Terrorist groups based in Pakistan pose one of the biggest threats to international security. Dozens of terrorist and insurgent groups use Pakistan, particularly its Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), as a base to launch operations in Afghanistan and terrorist attacks worldwide. In Pakistan: Terrorism Ground Zero, Rohan Gunaratna (Head of the International Centre for Political Violence and Terrorism Research at Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University, and a well-known Al-Qaeda expert) and Khuram Iqbal (former head of research at the Pakistani Institute for Peace Studies in Islamabad, currently working towards his PhD at the University of Wollongong) clearly explain the conditions that make Pakistan a “Terrorist Disneyland.” The threat cannot be terminated simply by surgically removing Al-Qaeda (AQ) from the FATA. Rather, the authors argue, any viable solution to contain the threat will include consideration of the myriad of complexities at play, and will have to address the decades of bad governance, illiteracy, poverty, lack of development, lack of healthcare, and political corruption that have contributed to the creation of the ground that is likely to support ideological extremism and terrorism for years to come.

  The book covers the broad scope of the threat in seven chapters; from the systematic negligence of the FATA since the time of British Colonial rule, to how the spider web of non-state actors have challenged Pakistan’s ability to juggle internal and external threats with pressure from the international community to take more sustained action.

  Some readers may be put off by the introduction to the book, in which Gunaratna and Iqbal assert the US precipitated the global spread of terrorism, and the escalation of terrorist attacks in Pakistan itself, by stirring the hornets’ nest in its retaliation for 9/11 and by not neutralizing the ideological source of the threat (p.14). In this context, the authors fail to mention that Pakistan had been the headquarters for the “global jihad” for years before 9/11. Fortunately, the authors leave this point behind, and make clear in the rest of the book the FATA was “kept backwards” (p. 21) by the state, which has not contributed enough towards its development and stability. The authors also do not hold back their criticism of the state’s weak stop-and-start military and humanitarian campaigns to eject foreign terrorists from the FATA.

  Scholars and counterterrorism analysts will appreciate the detailed profiles of the major terrorist and insurgent groups operating in Pakistan, including Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), Tehrik Lashkar-e-Islami (LI), Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ), and Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT). Gunaratna and Iqbal do an outstanding job teasing out the differences between the groups so readers can picture the TTP, for example, not as a single, monolithic organization, but as a network of groups, a few of which are allied with AQ in its war against the “far enemy”, some of which are concerned with ejecting U.S. and coalition troops from Afghanistan, while some others are focused entirely on attacking the host state. The authors also provide important details about each group’s leadership, financing, intentions and capabilities, and the nature of their cooperation with other groups.

  A full chapter covers terrorism in Karachi, introducing the added complications brought on by sectarian violence between the Sunni and the Shi’a; tensions that have been exacerbated by Iran and Saudi Arabia in the course of promoting their own interests (pp. 111-121). To that end, the authors continually remind readers throughout the book of the broader implications of militancy in Pakistan, providing solid examples of how the threat has spilled over to neighboring South Asian, Central Asian, and Western countries.

  Gunaratna and Iqbal’s assessment can serve as a valuable tool to shape a comprehensive strategic policy to defeat terrorism in Pakistan. The book also provides counterterrorism analysts with a much-needed roadmap of the multiple variables and subtleties in action that have affected, and will undoubtedly continue to affect, much of the rest of the world.

  About the Reviewer: Madeleine Gruen is a senior analyst at the NEFA Foundation, and is a consultant for the Homeland Security and Counterterrorism program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS).