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The deceptive search for a new Pakistani identity !

By Dr. Naseer Dashti

July 25, 2006

National identity poses itself theoretically as an insoluble problem in the context of previously colonized countries.
The major components of state identity in Pakistan have been ‘ideology of Pakistan’ which is the transformation of
national identities of different nationalities to a so-called Pakistani Islamic identity by adjusting it to the
requirements of ruling elite belonging to the dominant nationality and a ‘strong centre doctrine’ which excluded the
minority nationalities from the power structure of state. This state identity, having no rationale basis, had to be
imposed by force and for this Pakistani armed forces took upon the responsibility and as a result Pakistan
became a permanent experimental place for military dictatorship in South Asia. Implementation of this state
identity, based on the propagation of a superfluous non-existing Islamic Ummah, by force resulted in hostility
towards national aspirations of minority nationalities. The consequences were reflected in Pakistan becoming the
bastion of Islamic fundamentalism and hatching place for international terrorism and jehadi activities and a centre
of instability as a result of increased enmity between majority and minority nationalities. With the drastic changes
in international polity in a post soviet and post September 11 milieu, Pakistani State is under tremendous
pressure to reconsider the parameters of its state ideology and to reform its institutions of governance. From a
realistic point of view it is clear that neither the majority nationality is prepared to give up its subjugating designs
upon minority nationalities nor the state establishment is ready to replace the old irrational ideological parameters
with a genuine and viable state identity. The conscious elements in the minority nationalities and international
observers believe that the claims of a fundamental change in Pakistani state approach are merely deceptive
tactics by state establishment to deceive the international community.

The present territorial states in postcolonial Asia and Africa were created by drawing artificial lines by colonial
powers to create countries, uniting different ethnic identities in to one state negating the national and cultural
aspirations of many nationalities. The State of Pakistan and its manufactured ‘Muslim Pakistani identity’ reflect to
the paradox of state national identity that is characteristic of many so-called national states created by imperialists
after World War II in Asia and Africa. Pakistan came as a unique phenomenon in modern history. Its top leadership
and bureaucracy came from northern India, having no cultural and social roots in the country. It was also unique
that the language of a few hundred thousands emigrants was declared as the national and official language of a
sovereign state. It was not only the ruling elite but also the very ‘ideology of Pakistan’ was alien to the present
nationalities comprising Pakistan. Proponent of Pakistan ideology, the Muslim League, a political party that was
formed and groomed by British rulers in early 1906, had no popular support within the present geographical
boundaries of country, a fact fully reflected in the pre-partition general elections. Only a section of Muslim minority
in northern India was in the forefront for Pakistan movement, motivated in the hope that their future prosperity
might be materialized in a separate new state.

States are always desirous to find out a rationale for their existence, more so for newly formed states. As they
could not create that one, they try to follow some concepts or notions. Once they find comfort in an ideology, they
stick to those concept and try to impose them by force of arms with their resultant injustices and oppressions. That
is what happened in Pakistan. It has to follow dictates of so-called ideology in its internal and external policy
approaches for five decades with disastrous consequences. Founded upon principles, those were not genuine
but rather manufactured from above; it became quite obvious that Pakistani nationalism did not serve as a means
of awakening of Pakistani masses to national consciousness. It was rather a project undertaken by class of
intellectuals whose discourses were laden with dilemma of having no cultural roots in the new society which they
were incidentally dominating and facing an identity crisis in the aftermath of Indian partition. The emphasis on
‘Islamic brotherhood’ along with the ‘strong center doctrine’ was institutionalized by the rulers with brutal force,
excluded minority nationalities from power structures and contributed to widening of rift between the center and
periphery. In fact, the paradox of Pakistani nationalism enhanced the power of ruling elite of the dominant
nationality and paved the way to a manufactured, official identity which was skin-deep and not espoused by all the
strata of society.

The Pakistani State authority remained in the hands of a single nationality and its allies, the immigrants from north
India, throughout. Consistent with imperialist policies, the sovereignty over the state was exercised only by the
military bureaucratic institutions. The army came in to exert itself in internal and external polices. Initially, the army
stayed in waiting and tried a political system that could not popularize itself without support from the minority
nationalities. They sometimes opted for sharing the same with certain civilians who were ready to follow their
course of action; however, they came in directly with regular pauses whenever they felt that the political elites
gained too much independence. The military leaders assumed themselves as the final authority on vital political,
economic, and ideological matters. They took it upon themselves to protect the ‘ideological frontiers of Pakistan’.
With the dominating measures of the establishment in the shape of lesser participation and lesser constitutional
representation of minority nationalities, the ethnic divide in Pakistan widened with the passage of time especially
with reference to Bengalis, Baloch and Sindhis.

States are supposed to be dynamic in order to respond in kind to demands from the various component identities,
reflecting not just the nature of the center periphery relations, but also the fluidity of the state as a means of conflict
resolution between competing elite, communities, and ideologies. The crises emerge, where the state has failed
in its role as arbiter, bringing a corresponding questioning of the state’s legitimacy to monopolize the control of
state apparatus over the masses of different cultural and social orientations. What develops is a reciprocal
shaping and reshaping of dominant-suppressed identities, as minority national movements tend to expand their
own repertoire and demands according to those employed by the ruling elite of the nationality they oppose. With
each new encroachment of the center upon the periphery, there occurs the stratification of the crisis, and a
perpetuation of conflict that has little chance of resolution. The processes of state consolidation through
integration, vernacularisation, social stratification, and centralization of communicative channels by the ruling
nationality were to play a major part in creating social preconditions for the polarization of a society between
varying ethno-national groups. It is here that the notion of repression and perceived grievances become integral to
the rise of extra-parliamentary political action, as marginalized populations began to take offence to the
encroachment of military discipline into everyday life in return for a minimal amount of political influence.

There are four distinct nations in Pakistan. These nations have their ancestral homeland, common decent of
several centuries, common culture expressed in their basic values, beliefs and practices, and collective feelings of
solidarity. Punjabi is the ruling nationality holding more than 75% leadership positions in several areas of
governance such as judiciary, executive, legislature and public administration. Therefore, the conflict between the
ruling nationality and others is inevitably growing to an alarming extent. The elite section of the ruling nation is not
prepared to accept Pakistan as multi-national state. In their misplaced enthusiasm they are equating the
Punjabi/immigrant values, beliefs and practices as the foundation of a “Pakistani culture”. This kind of thinking
reflects the Punjabi chauvinistic mindset with consequential theoretical and ideological chaos creating deep and
irreparable schism in Pakistani society. The separation of East Bengal and the intensification of Baloch and
Sindhi National Resistances can be described as the consequences of such repressive policies of state
establishment belonging to majority nationality.

The political dynamics of the post-September period had certain characteristics that are connecting Pakistan with
the international global phenomenon. Pakistan is increasingly being portrayed by international media as the
bastion of Islamic fundamentalism. In the context of ongoing war against terrorism, the Pakistani state is under
tremendous pressure from western powers to remodel their concept of implementing Islamic and Koranic
theories. The establishment is desperately employing measure to show that it is heeding to Western advice and
at the same time to camouflage its real designs. First, the regime is deceiving western powers by portraying that it
is adopting a liberal approach while in reality it is strengthening fundamentalist forces. Secondly, it is boasting its
participation in the war against terrorism but in practice it is not only grooming terrorist organizations in Pakistan
but also patronizing jehadi organizations in Afghanistan, India and Europe. The intelligentsia of national minorities
in Pakistan and many international observers are least optimistic. They see the official shift in policy approaches
from religious to liberal is prompted by an urge to safe guard the interests of ruling elites rather than by a genuine
renewed and sustainable interest in changing the parameters of Pakistani identity. This is quite clear by the fact
that in the recent rhetoric of tolerance and pluralism by the present military regime there is no mention of the fact
that Pakistan being a multi-national state. There is no substantial evidence that state establishment has
abandoned or decreased the level of its patronage for terrorists or jehadi elements. The ongoing armed offensive
against Baloch National Resistance and blatant violations of human rights in Balochistan and Sindh is leading the
relationship of oppressed nationalities with Pakistani State towards the point of no return. The Pakistani State is
compressed from the top by the drastic changes in international polity and from the bottom by the internal conflicts
among the various nationalities and is being increasingly and finely minced by the concomitant action of these two
powerful jaws. The national minorities especially Baloch and Sindhis are stepping up the resistance against their
persistent subjugation by the state. The present scenario in Pakistan is of a total chaotic situation and in all
practical terms, the Pakistani state is on the brink of disintegration and this situation is the result of following
unrealistic approaches by majority nationality towards the aspirations of minority national entities in particular and
neglecting the public opinion of international community in general.

Pakistan has always provided a unique setting for experiments in synthesizing Islamic principles with the needs of
a modern state. The basis of the ideal Muslim polity is the Sharia, the sacred law of Islam and efforts to apply
Sharia law in a modern political context have had a direct impact on Pakistan's political history and complicated
the nation's economic, political, constitutional and social evolution. This is tantamount to the negation of raison d’
etre of Pakistani State. The Pakistani army and establishment flourished on gains of championing the cause of
exporting Islamic fundamentalism and terrorism in neighboring countries and it is unthinkable for them to
voluntarily concede their privileged position. West’s insistence of adopting a liberal Islamic approach is
incompatible with basic Islamic tenets, upholding of which is the basis of very ideology of Pakistan and the
essential component of state identity. While analyzing the intellectual potentials and the historical background of
the developed mindset of the ruling elite from the dominant nationality and taking into consideration the track
record of Pakistani political developments, it became obvious that the state and its parasitic strata are not about to
give in gracefully. Conscious elements in minority nationalities are not taking seriously the recent manipulations of
a section of State Establishment to replace the present military regime with a façade of democratic government by
encouraging the leaders of two main political parties to forge an alliance or encouraging one of the political front of
ISI, the Jamait Islami to launch an agitation against present regime. In their opinion, all the fanfare of signing a
“Pakistani ‘magna carta’ for democracy” with out the resolution of national questions and with out a basic shift in
ideological parameters of state is superfluous. They believe that these maneuvers on behalf a section of army
establishment is merely to gain time and to deceive the western public opinion. To redefine the rationale for its
existence afresh and give the country a decent socio-cultural and political shape and bring it to the conditions of
contemporary international realities is a task that Pakistani establishment or the intelligentsia of dominant
nationality is incapable of dealing with.

For the survival of Pakistani State, it is imperative for saner elements in the majority nationality of Pakistan, the
Punjab, to determine the parameters of relations between majority and minority nationalities and to search for a
new sound, viable and logical identity for the State, which could provide a rationale for a viable Pakistan. The
survival of Pakistan lies in immediate shift to the basic ideology of Pakistan. The parameters of such a shift should
include a secular Pakistan in which the level of development had to be reached by emphasizing notions such as
science, modern education, rationality and liberalism. The new paradigm should embrace the basic principles of
autonomy, democracy and secularism. The most important component of the this new rational identity should be
the recognition of Pakistani state as a multinational state in which all nations should be treated as equal and
sovereign. Suppression of diversity in the name of national unity, religion or on any other pretext should not be
allowed and the universally accepted right of self-determination of all nationalities should be accepted.
Majority of the political observers are in the opinion that in a Pakistani context, it is nearly impossible to achieve a
descent resolution of the basic conflict between different component nationalities within Pakistani State.

They believe that the ruling elite of the dominant nationality is far from reality and the intelligentsia of the ruling
nationality lacks the vision to guide the ruling elite in to a dignified settlement. While analyzing and trying to come
to grips with the establishment’s mentality, references should be made to the strong tradition in this country that
was evolved in such a way as to stifle any kind of rationale thought and reasoning. Any attempt in this direction is
readily considered to be anti-state, anti-Islam or anti-ideology of Pakistan. Pakistani society was made stagnant
with an implicit bar on free debate to socio-political events. Long spells of dictatorial rule created a psychological
and intellectual stagnation among the conscientious people. It is quite obvious that Pakistani State Establishment
will try to tread on its familiar tracks. It will keep trying, till the end, to strike and fight the genuine aspirations of
national minorities with all sorts of old ideological weapons, playing the same old ideological games. The
subjugated nationalities in Pakistan are bound to encounter on their path of salvation the very powerful and brutal
resistance of state establishment dominated by Punjab and its allies, the immigrants from India.

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