http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/the-newspaper/columnists/nadeem-f-paracha-the-peril-of-being-moderate

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"The biggest problem thus with so-called ‘moderate Muslims’ is that they fail to hold any solid convictions, and would largely remain quiet, even in the face of their more extremist counterparts’ irrational take on faith, and their reliance on coercion and violence. Why on earth did it take the moderate majority of Pakistan so long to realise that the Taliban always had the potential to unleash a blood-splattered havoc?"

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"Politically speaking, the attitude of the PML(N) and its leader, Mian Nawaz Sharif, in this context is a vivid example. The party can be described as what political scientists call a ‘Muslim Democracy’ party, or a centre-right political entity which, like the European Christian Democrats, are moderate, faith-based parties minus any theocratic or fundamentalist pretensions, and which have a healthy relationship with modern democratic notions and a liking for market economics.

So, never mind the many delusions Mian Saheb held in the past, wanting to be crowned as the Amirul Momineen, today he is a ‘moderate Muslim.’ But in spite of making all the right noises about democracy, constitutionalism and a free judiciary, the man has only rarely been heard castigating extremism. This is ironic from a man whose party’s bastion of support is Punjab, a province that has recently experienced some of the most harrowing acts of terrorism perpetrated by the Taliban, and yet, Mian Sahib remains mum about them.

What is he waiting for? Is he still expecting some large sections of his mostly petty-bourgeois constituency in Punjab to hold sympathy for extremists? Does he still believe that if he openly talks against the Taliban, he will lose his votes? It is true that in the past religious extremists of all shades did find sympathy with certain sections of Punjab’s petty-bourgeoisie, but one doubts such is the case anymore."