Ms Mariam Abou Zahab

Mariam Abou Zahab is a researcher affiliated with Sciences Po University in Paris and has also worked at Centre d'études et de recherches internationales (CERI) and has lectured at Institut d'Etudes Politiques de Paris (IEP) and Institut National des Langues et Civilisations Orientales (INALCO).

She is an expert in the area of Pakistan and Afghanistan, Shiism, Sectarianism, Jihadi groups, Pashtun society, and the Tribal Areas of Pakistan.

She completed her Masters in Philosophy at Institut d'Etudes Politiques de Paris and since then has published a number of book chapters and articles in academic journals as well as making regular appearances on radio and television. She co-authored Islamist Networks: The Afghan-Pakistan Connection in 2004 with Olivier Roy.

Some of her recent publications include:

"Deobandi Groups and Ahl-e Hadith" in Islamic Affairs Analyst, Janes, July 2009.

"Sectarianism in Pakistan's Kurram Tribal Agency" in Pakistan's Troubled Frontier. Hassan Abbas (ed).  The Jamestown Foundation, Washington, 2009.

"Between Pakistan and Qom : Shi'i women's madrasas and new transnational networks" in The Madrasa in Asia. Political Activism and Transnational Linkages. Martin van Bruinessen, Farish Noor and Yoginder Sikand (eds), Amsterdam University Press,(2008)

"Salafism in Pakistan : The Ahl-e Hadith Movement" in Global Salafism : Islam's New Religious Movement. Roel Meijer (ed). Londres, Hurst/Columbia University Press.

Ms Abou Zahab's presentation at the Countering Militancy in Pakistan: Domestic, Regional and International Dimensions Conference was, Sectarianism and Talibanism in the NWFP.