Various extremist organizations, including Daesh, Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), and other affiliated militant groups, continue to misuse religion and ideology as a justification for violence, targeting Muslims and their own communities in pursuit of narrow and destructive objectives. These groups systematically exploit vulnerable youth, weaponize misinformation, and conduct coordinated campaigns to discredit respected religious scholars, educators, and intellectuals in order to weaken legitimate moral and social leadership.
By branding credible scholars as so-called “corrupt clerics” (Ulama-e-Soo), these extremist groups deliberately erode young people’s trust in authentic religious and societal guidance. This tactic allows militants to isolate impressionable minds and replace scholarship, ethics, and reason with radical dogma and blind obedience.
Under fabricated pretexts such as espionage or “speaking the truth,” these groups have repeatedly justified the killing of their own people. Thousands of tribal elders and community leaders have been brutally murdered on the basis of unverified accusations. Critical infrastructure including roads, bridges, and schools has been destroyed through bombings, destabilizing entire regions. In their attempt to impose a radical ideology, these groups have shattered social harmony and declared the killing of anyone who resists them as permissible.
No place has been spared from their violence. From wedding ceremonies and recreational venues to mosques and public gatherings, suicide bombings and attacks have been carried out without regard for human life, cultural traditions, or religious sanctity.
A deeply troubling question remains: how and from where do suicide bombers emerge, and how are they systematically prepared?
One particularly disturbing case involves Government High School Tank No. 2, where 52 schoolchildren were forcibly taken by militants. Teachers pleaded for the children to be allowed to complete their annual examinations, but their appeals were dismissed. The militants silenced them by declaring that “worldly exams have no value” and that the children were instead being prepared for an “exam of the hereafter.”
The students were gathered and ordered to sign a document stating that they were voluntarily joining Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan, severing all ties with their parents and families, and accepting their new identity as militants. When teachers attempted to object, they were threatened and warned that anyone obstructing “jihad” would be labeled an agent of the United States or the Pakistan Army and that speaking out would result in death.
The process of converting these children into suicide attackers follows a calculated and predatory pattern. The selected boys are isolated from others, treated preferentially, and given better food. They are repeatedly told that sacrificing their lives will grant them rewards in the hereafter beyond imagination. This psychological conditioning is reinforced through emotional manipulation and religious distortion.
Reports further indicate that in training camps, these children were administered potent stimulants to artificially enhance aggression, energy, and emotional intensity. Their minds, hearts, and bodies were conditioned with targeted hatred against designated enemies. In the final stage, farewell scenes complete with prayers and emotional embraces were filmed and recorded. These videos were later monetized through pre-arranged payments from external handlers and facilitators.
Extremist groups often claim that “their war is against the state, not the people.” This narrative is a deliberate deception designed to keep society divided, prevent collective resistance, and enable the gradual elimination of communities exactly as witnessed in tribal regions over time. In reality, the primary victims have always been ordinary citizens.
These groups are not representatives of religion, resistance, or justice. They are enemies of society, humanity, and the nation. Their strategy thrives on fear, division, and the exploitation of innocence, and their actions stand in direct contradiction to the moral, ethical, and spiritual foundations they falsely claim to defend.
