Search: “Pakistan”

Whenever an act of terrorism occurs in the West there is an immediate flurry of questions and panic.  How did this happen?  Who was the perpetrator?  Why did he (or, more infrequently, she) do it?  Where did they get radicalised?  Is this another self-radicalised lone wolf (perhaps the most inaccurate label out there)?  What do […]

It must appear to most people in Canada that terrorism is a daily scourge.  If you take a global snapshot that is undeniably true.  Over the last few weeks we have seen attacks in France, Tunisia, Kuwait, Yemen and the inevitable – and sadly too frequent – violence in Syria, Iraq, Pakistan and Afghanistan. And […]

Intelligence agencies can get quite creative when developing ways to collect information.  But sometimes they get too creative that lead to more problems.  Not to mention endangering thousands of lives – innocent lives. Take the case of Shakil Afridi, a Pakistani doctor in jail for his involvement in the terrorist group Laskhar-e-Islam.  What is far […]

I have already talked a bit about the Sunni-Shia split in an earlier piece (Brothers at Arms).  Today’s thoughts are along a different pathway. When I worked in the intelligence world and looked at violent radicalization, the focus was entirely on Sunnis, not Shia.  Of course, there were other kinds of violence to worry about […]