Karachi, Feb 18: The book titled ‘Frontier of Faith: A History of Religious Mobilization in the Pakhtun Tribal Areas’ was officially launched at a ceremony held at the IBA Main Campus Auditorium on Friday. The book has been written by Dr. Sana Haroon, Assistant Professor Social Science at IBA, and published by Oxford University Press Pakistan. This book examines the history of Islam in the North West Frontier region of Pakistan. A largely autonomous zone, the Tribal Area was established as a strategic buffer zone for British India, and the resulting autonomy allowed local clerics to assume roles of tremendous power. After Partition in 1947, the region maintained its autonomy as the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA). Consequently, the Frontier has remained the hinterland of successive, contradictory jihads in support of Pashtun ethnicism, anti-colonial nationalism, Pakistani territorialism, religious revivalism, Afghan anti-Soviet resistance, and anti-Americanism. As questions of the security of Pakistan’s Western border areas remains pressing, there wouldn’t be a better time for a sourcebook detailing the intricacies of leadership and mobilization in this region. The launch of the book was followed by a panel discussion on “the historical legacies and contemporary crisis of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas” with Journalist and bestselling author Ahmed Rashid and Senator and Provincial President of Awami National Party, Mr. Afrasiab Khattak. Sana Haroon, the author of the book, graduated from the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London with a PhD in South Asian History. Her areas of specialization include the history of religious mobilization in North West Frontier areas of Pakistan. She is currently teaching at the Institute of Business Administration Karachi as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Social Sciences.