The effects of cleric statements on suicide bombings in Pakistan, 2000–2010

This article explores the relationship between suicide bombings and public cleric statements in Pakistan between 2000–2010. It establishes that bombings and statements increase over time, that cleric statements vary according to the bombing target, and that police and military targets most frequently garner clerics’ attention. An adaptation of Kaplan, Mintz, and Mishal's (2006) maximum likelihood estimation method determines whether cleric statements affect the bombing rate. The analysis shows that pro-suicide statements have a far greater effect on the bombing rate than anti-suicide statements, both in the magnitude of increased bombings and by the length of time over which they exert influence.