1. Am seeing quite a few people saying 'liberals' need to recognize how extremism of the sort espoused by the TLP enjoys popular support, and that secular/progressive politics is both marginal and hegemonic at the same time (somehow, depending on the commentator).

2. Do religious parties and organizations enjoy mass support? Yes. Is some of this support an expression of discontent with a political and economic system dominated by venal elites? Perhaps. Have the Left and liberals (not the same) failed to capitalize on this? Sure.

3. But let's not miss the wood for the trees. The TLP and similar outfits have gained power after decades of the state weaponizing religion to legitimize itself and attack those who question it.

4. Are many people genuinely religious? Of course. But as the persecution of Ahmedis and the use of the blasphemy law shows, for example, the conversion of religious sentiment into violent, intolerant hatred is facilitated by the broader legal and political context.

5. Put differently, would extremist organizations have as much purchase in society if they had not been cultivated as strategic assets by the military establishment? If they had not been pandered to by civilian leaders boosting themselves through appeals to religion?

6. Similarly, have secular and progressive forces failed due to the poverty and inadequacy of their ideas, or is it due to decades of state-led violence and repression aimed at quashing dissent?

7. Also problematic is the idea that if the TLP enjoys popular support, it must reflect what people want. Should we assume, then, that hundreds of thousands of people are irredeemable bigots who lack the agency to respond to alternative narratives if/when they are given space?

8. Pakistan's political system is dominated by military and political elites who have systematically worked to protect their narrow interests while excluding and suppressing forms of politics and ideological narratives that might challenge their hegemony.

9. Religion has long been a tool wielded by the military and political elite to secure their interests, and many observers are not wrong to point out how, after decades of state-led efforts, religious extremism is proving to be a potent force for popular mobilization.

10. What this shows, however, is the need to dismantle the political and economic system that has produced this outcome. The struggle against extremism cannot be won without challenging those who preside over this cynical system of manioulation, exclusion, and exploitation.