National Identity and national integration Issues

By Abdullah Bin Abbas

BPA 2K13
Communities are established upon the foundations of shared language, geography and history,

not solely religion. An example of failed attempt to build a nation on the basis of religion is

“Israel”. Since Jews settled there from all over the globe, with difference ethnicities,

backgrounds and languages etc., the country is engaged in constant internal conflict and

disagreements, which has made it clear that nations cannot be built upon the basis of religion.

On the other hand the two-nation ideology stated that Muslims and Hindus in the Indian

subcontinent are two separate “nations” with their prime identity being religion. The ideology

was a founding principle of Pakistan Movement. Defining an ideology in which religion was

a determining factor of Indian Muslims was coined by Jinnah who declared it as an awakening

of Muslims to create a separate country.

But what is ideology? It is characterized as a collective set of principles, ideas and moral values

that constitute the goals and aspirations of a society, group, or person; it shapes their actions

and motives for the future and gives meaning to their lives. The concept of ideology is present

in everything from politics to sociology.

As the world changes, older and widely accepted ideologies are brought to question and when

established beliefs are challenged, it leads to heated disagreements and a lot of confusion as it

strikes at the core of any issue, movement or revolution leaving its participants in a sense of

indirection, uncertainty and doubt. When the events of the history are reviewed, the heroes of

the past start losing much of their sensation and mystery, challenging the integration and

identity of a nation built on the great deeds of its founding fathers.

In 1947 the Indian subcontinent got independence from its British rulers and emerged as two

separate nations which were predominantly distinguished according to the religion of their

resident populations. This has led people to believe that the creation of Pakistan was on the

boundaries of religion for decades. The truth however is open to interpretation.

To this day the confusion is apparent, the roots of nationalism run deep, but those of religion

run deeper. Tempers flare up if anyone negates the idea that the foundation of Pakistan was

based on religious differences between Hindus and Muslims instead of them being two

different communities or nations. The basic human instinct is to live unitedly for protection

against foreign threats, that coupled with a history of living together for almost a thousand

years with harmony peace and tolerance, yet the British exploited the religious differences for

their “divide and rule” policy and succeeded which later gave rise to the two nation theory.

Much to the irresponsibility of some leaders, during the peak of Pakistan movement, the slogan

“Pakistan ka matlab kya La illaha illallah” was the rallying cry for Muslim league. Yet after

the partition a general trend that can be seen in Jinnah’s addresses is that his emphasis on Islam

gradually faded, which has made the credibility of the popular slogan questionable as to

whether it was meaningful or was it used just to invoke the sentiments of the public and gather

support by manipulating their religious conscience. For example on 11th august 1947 he stated:

“You are free; you are free to go to your temples, you are free to go to your mosques or

to any other place or worship in this state of Pakistan. You may belong to any religion or

caste or creed that has nothing to do with the business of the state”
One thing that can be noted about Jinnah is that he was everything to everyone, a progressive

nationalist to the liberals; a faithful religionist to the conservatives, and a middle of the road

Muslim statesman to the moderates. The same trend can be observed by the political parties of

today which use Jinnah as a symbol of inspiration. Parties like JUI showcase Jinnah as a

champion for the bastion of Islamic faith, PML-N attribute Jinnah’s vision with Pakistan being

somewhat of an “Islamic welfare state” meanwhile the liberals like PPP utilize Jinnah’s visions

for progress and unbending democracy. Whatever the case may be at the present, Jinnah died

too soon for us to conclusively say exactly what kind of Pakistan he wished for.

During congress rule in 1937 the maltreatment of Muslims, infringement of their rights and

the subsequent events that took place like the alterations in school curriculum and Warda

scheme etc., additionally fed the misconception that Pakistan was a country meant to protect

the rights of Muslims against the oppressive majority of Hindu population in the subcontinent.

The doctrine of Islamic unity was further challenged in 1971 when Bangladesh the densely

populated east wing of Pakistan broke off from the center and created a new sovereign country.

Though it can be argued that it was due to mismanagement, bad governance and infringement

of rights, but for a country supposedly built on the foundations of religion, this was a crushing

blow to Pakistan, as nationalistic sentiments overcame the Bangladeshis.

In the late 80s the Mutahidda Qoumi Movement in Karachi (MQM) gathered immense support

under the leadership of Altaf Hussain. The immigrants from India, the very people who paid

the ultimate sacrifices for the creation of Pakistan felt discriminated in the country that they

had striven so hard to create. The unfair quota system that gave preference to native Sindhis
when it came to allocation of resources, public offices and access to education. This eventually

took the shape of the alleged Jinnahpur plan and operation cleanup 1992-1994 which marks

the bloodiest period of Karachi’s history with thousands killed and missing individuals during

the fighting, further worsening the relations between the Muhajir community and the local

government. The dispute continued as armed clashes between MQM and Sindh police under

PPP which also led to the tragic killing of Murtaza Bhutto who was a vocal critic of Benazir

and Asif Ali Zardari in their actions against MQM and general party corruption.

Faced with an identity crisis when their belief system collapses, a large number of people have

been troubled when they look deeper into the details of the Pakistan movement. Despite the

common beliefs the ideology of a separate more tolerant and liberal state that however operates

on the principals of freedom of life and expression taught by Islam still endures. Many of the

real time events of the partition have been lost to memory due to the sectarian violence that

erupted at that time when large numbers of people from both sides were brutally massacred

whilst traveling to their respective country, which itself has led to give wind to the credence

that the partition represented the parting of two religious populations instead of two ideological

factions and two different nations.

Even now in Pakistan the dispute between the provinces and the center ensues as the public

rallies for sovereignty and new provinces for major factions of the society in movements that

are spread across Pakistan’s history, like Bacha Khan Tehreek and ANP movement in KPK,

Jinnahpur movement by MQM, Sindhudesh movement, Siraki separatist movement in Punjab

and the ever present Baluchistan Tehreek (BLA) that has been raging on since 1948 to name a

few. Moreover Small communities of different religious sects like Shia, Deo-bandi, and Sunni
etc. are uniting even in the urban areas like Karachi driving others out. This elucidates that

despite being Muslims they still have separatist tendencies and further challenges the doctrine

that the protection or progression of Islam was the major motive for creation of Pakistan.

Whatever we have witnessed since the creation of Pakistan can be attributed to the negligence

of the new generations and lack of role models like the leaders of Pakistan movement, yet we

cannot refute the absence of a cohesive underlying ideology to unite the masses.

In the aftermath of the First World War, the Muslim caliphate in turkey was abolished by

Kamal Ataturk, rendering the previously acceptable pan Islamic ideology of governance

inapplicable to most of the world in the absence of a uniting figure head. Muslim states were

divided and succumbed to nationalistic ideas, an evolved world with modern languages, vast

geographies and liberal cultures. Nations rebuilt themselves over the ashes of the old world

order and the upsurge of pan nationalism which later caused the rise of Hitler and the Second

World War.

In the transition, the sentiment of separate states for ethnicities, religions and ideological

nations gave rise to the nationalist premise that the nation is a fundamental unit of human social

life, and that it is the only legitimate basis for the state while at the same time undermining

religious unification worldwide. Religion can prove as a uniting force, but only to a certain

extent after which the inherent differences in communities start overcoming this uniting force.

Many consider the changing world after the war the reason for the creation of India and

Pakistan. Muslims were no longer a “nation” but a “community” (Millat) of nations (Iranian,

Indian, Syrian, Turkish, Egyptian etc.). So it was impossible for them to stay together on the
base of religion. The whole world conceived a new kind of society. Beginning of a new era

of nationalism. Those who saw it coming and adopted accordingly were able to survive. Those

who didn’t are still suffering till date.

The choice in front of us now is to either we will continue pondering over the conundrums of

the past and keep questioning the driving force behind our history, or we can make peace with

it and embrace the mistakes we made, then concentrate on what to do in our future and how to

work towards the progress of Pakistan for future generations, only then can we be sure to any

extent that our children won’t live in a divided and alienated country.

Pan Islamism is still possible but a pre-requisite is that all of the Muslim countries in the world

first build and strengthen themselves up as nations. Then by uniting as an international

community of “Muslim Nations” we can once again restore Islam to its glory and abode.