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Kamal Alam June 3rd, 2015 Since Pakistan’s founding, religion, namely Islam, has fundamentally defined its political affairs. Despite this reality, however, Pakistan has historically accommodated its rich and long-standing history of Buddhist and mystic cultures, both of which predate the arrival of Islam around 720 CE. Indeed, for the first few decades of its existence, Pakistan was largely tolerant of its religious minority groups. Since the 1980s, however, a more stringent political Sunni-Islam, imported from Saudi Arabia, has come to replace Pakistan’s culturally tolerant version of the faith. The rise of this new form of Islam was a product of a political alliance between Pakistan and Saudi Arabia that began in the 1970s. As a result of this relationship, Pakistan’s various religious and ethnic groups, particularly Christians and Shi’as, have been the victims of increasing attacks in the country. How Pakistan’s Regional Politics Bred Sectarianism Following the struggle ...

Alastair Crooke   Become a fan   Fmr. MI-6 agent; Author, 'Resistance: The Essence of Islamic Revolution' Email Posted:  08/27/2014 11:56 am EDT  Updated:  10/27/2014 5:59 am EDT BEIRUT -- The dramatic arrival of Da'ish (ISIS) on the stage of Iraq has shocked many in the West. Many have been perplexed -- and horrified -- by its violence and its evident magnetism for Sunni youth. But more than this, they find Saudi Arabia's ambivalence in the face of this manifestation both troubling and inexplicable, wondering, "Don't the Saudis understand that ISIS threatens them, too?" It appears -- even now -- that Saudi Arabia's ruling elite is divided. Some applaud that ISIS is fighting Iranian Shiite "fire" with Sunni "fire"; that a new Sunni state is taking shape at the very heart of what they regard as a historical Sunni patrimony; and they are drawn by Da'ish's strict Salafist ideology. Other S...

RIYADH/DOHA   |  BY ANGUS MCDOWALL AND  AMENA BAKR Saudi Arabia's King Salman is seen during U.S. President Barack Obama's visit to Erga Palace in Riyadh January 27, 2015. REUTERS/JIM BOURG (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia is pushing for Sunni Muslim Middle East countries to set aside differences over political Islam and focus on what it sees as more urgent threats from Iran and Islamic State. Its new monarch, King Salman, has used summits with leaders of all five Gulf Arab states, Jordan, Egypt and Turkey over the past 10 days to reinforce the need for unity and find a way to work Why Pakistan may be a reluctant ally in Saudis' Yemen campaign Analysis: Domestic and regional political concerns raise the risks of being seen to ally on sectarian lines against Iran March 27, 2015   9:22AM ET by  Omar Waraich Saudi Arabia’s new policy of uniting Sunni Muslim powers against Iran’s Shia regime has resulte...