Perspectives on Musharraf’s policy of ‘Enlightened Moderation’ in National & International Print Media
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Date
2017
Authors
SARA AHMAD
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
UMT.Lahore
Abstract
In the wake of 9/11, 2001 religious extremism became a major concern of international
security agencies. Pakistan, in particular, became a focus of academic discourse on
radical religious extremism and militancy. It was during these times that President of
Pakistan Pervez Musharraf presented the idea of “Enlightened Moderation”. According to
him, the Muslims would have to adopt the modern path and the world should promote
justice to get rid of extremism. This study examines President Musharraf’s policy of
“Enlightened Moderation” and its different interpretations by the national and
international print media. The study finds that despite President Musharraf’s efforts to
explain this idea at length, it was interpreted in multiple, often conflicting ways by
scholars in the Pakistan, the West and in the Muslim world. Data is included from
newspapers articles and semi-structured elite interviews which are selected using quota
and purposive sampling. Following the interpretive qualitative research tradition, the
study is employed thematic analysis to analyze the data.