VIOLENCE, EXTREMISM, AND TERRORISM: A CRITIQUE ON OMER SHAHID HAMID'S THE SPINNER'S TALE

Abstract

This paper informed by the theories on extremism, violence, terrorism, mapping of terrorism and evolution of terrorist organizations by Martha Crenshaw, Bruce Hoffman and John Horgan; explores the life of Sheikh Ahmed Uzair Sufi, the protagonist in Omer Shahid Hamid’s The Spinner’s Tale (2015). Through an in depth study of this fictional character, the story of the young innocent boy, who is a cricket lover, is put before us who turned in to a jihadi after joining            the student-wing of an ethnic party. In doing so, the researchers attempt to identify patterns in             the evolution of terrorism; to specify its causes and consequences and to analyze its       development, particularly in Pakistan. Therefore, this study probes into the fact that how small             groups are multiplied to make larger terrorist’s groups. In the light of the given theory, Sheikh             Ahmed Uzair Sufi’s character provides us with an ample source to study; those circumstances      and conditions due to which many young educated Pakistani men belonging to middle-class    families turn to violence and militancy. Alluding the text, the authoritarian governments/factions, and the corrupt political system and/or political exploitation play a vital         role in creating monsters out of young educated Pakistani men. Having established that, a          critique is presented on the space created by such systems that breed and safeguard offenders    and militants.