An Assessment and Analysis of the Extremist Islamic Threats in Pakistan against the National Security of the Islamic Republic of Iran (With Emphasis on the Role of the Islamic Revolution)

There are two guidelines specified in the scientific works available in relation to the extremist Islamic threats in Pakistan posed to the IRI’s national security: Some have enumerated threats associated with ideological issues against the national security of the Islamic Republic of Iran by pointing to the factors that contribute to the growth of the Islamic extremism in Pakistan, ignoring the role of the Islamic Revolution with regard to such threats. Some others have considered the threats posed by the Pakistani extremists as a response against the revisionist character of the Islamic Revolution, thereby using the competition between the Islamic Republic of Iran and the conservative regional and trans-regional countries as a frame of reference for judging the threats posed by the extremists, which has caused them to fail to observe the threats originating from identity-based problems. Examining the roots and the identity threats themselves, this research then tries to understand how the Islamic Revolution is associated with the ongoing threats. The findings of this research show although factors like poverty, political instability, and Saudi Arabia’s support to extremist groups play an increasingly important role in provoking Islamic extremism in Pakistan, but the Islamic Revolution itself has managed to convert these potential factors to actual ones. In brief, both factors have brought various security threats to bear on the Islamic Republic of Iran, which include Anti-Shiism, threats originating from drug trafficking, the provoked separatist groups and the strengthened Wahhabism in the Southeast of Iran, and finally the threat stemming from the probable coming to power of such groups in Pakistan, and their access to nuclear weapons.