Religion, ethnicity, social organizations and terrorists’ behavior – a case of Taliban movement in Pakistan

Jihad or Revenge: Theorizing Radicalization in Pashtun Tribal Belt along the Border of Afghanistan

“…Revenge in tribal traditions is based on the principles of 'an eye for an eye and tooth for a tooth' (Shukla, 2015). Blood revenge is primarily concerned with honor, meaning thereby that the failure to exact revenge in reciprocation will cause one to be thought of as a coward (Feyyaz, 2017). The importance of revenge can be gauged from the fact that for an individual to exact revenge, it is morally and ethically permissible in tribal traditions to engage even in deceit and unethical practices.…”

“…But the tribal concept of revenge attaches little or no importance to time considerations. At times, revenge exacted after a century is considered earlier among tribal Pashtuns (Feyyaz, 2017). The blood feud would remain dormant for years unless the immediate family members of the victims are capable of taking revenge.…”

Who Is Concerned about Terrorist Attacks? A Religious Profile

“…The IEP (2016) report notes that high levels of terrorist activity are related to high levels of political terror and political instability and low respect of human rights and religious freedoms for the United Nations (UN) or the European Union (EU). Several studies explaining the reasons for these attacks have been carried out, namely, political (McCauley and Moskalenko 2008;Ömer 2009;Midlarsky 2011), social (King and Taylor 2011;Mink 2015), economic (De Mesquita 2008;Caruso and Locatelli 2014), cultural (Pisoiu 2014;Shaffer 2015;Kluch and Vaux 2017), religious (Jefferis 2009;Kingsley 2010;Rapoport 2013;Ross 2015;Feyyaz 2016;Laqueur 2017), and psychological reasons (Twemlow 2005;Berko 2007;Post et al 2009;Horgan 2012;Perliger et al 2016).…”

“…Religiosity affects the preferences of individuals (Esteban et al 2015), exerting effects on individual decisions and behavior, and its intensity affects social interactions and attitudes (Brañas-Garza et al 2013). The relationship between religion and terrorism has long been studied in the literature (Hoffman 1995;Jefferis 2009;Rapoport 2013;Feyyaz 2016;Laqueur 2017). "Religion-inspired terrorism appeared on the fringes of all major (and some minor) religions including Christianity, Judaism, and even Buddhism, but it was more frequent among Islamic groups" (Laqueur 2017, p. xi).…”