Motivations for Pakistani Religious Extremists to Become Terrorists

Raza Rahman, Khan Qazi, Shahid Ali Khattak & Shakeel Ahmad

Abstract
Terrorism cannot and must not be considered as a phenomenon that unfolds in isolation. In
most instances terrorism is the outcome of protracted process of radicalization of some
political or religious movement. Political or religious movements splinter when they lose
public support and influence. At times the relatively more extremists among the
fundamentalist groups resort to terrorism in order to revive the group’s social influence and
political clout. Moreover, terrorism is not possible sans an extremist ideology that guides and
justifies the actions and plans of the perpetrators of terrorism. On the other hand one of the
dominant paradigms in terrorism studies, the Strategic Model, contends that perpetrators of
terrorism are fundamentally rational actors and their actions politically motivated.