National Unity Tested by Regional and Religious Pressures '

Religion and regionalism have persistently tested both the nature and purpose of the state.

Religion and regionalism would perhaps not have been such enduring sources of discord had efforts to meet the economic and social needs of its people succeeded.

Often public discontent was cast in ethnic terms and held out as evidence of the lack of distributive justice between provinces.

The Sindh’s Urdu-speaking migrants (muhajirs or refugees) from India felt discrimination in the distribution of state resources and jobs.

• This led to the meteoric rise of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM).

The 1977 opposition-led mass demonstrations used religion against Bhutto’s autocratic rule.

Punjab is more populous than the other 3 provinces put together.

The confluence between Pakistan’s ethnic diversity and the provincial configuration emphasized the need to make federalism a reality, not just a constitutional percept.

The failure to create real federalism was due to the rise of the Bengali nationalist movement that culminated in the break-up of Pakistan.

The 1973 Constitution, a consensus document:

• assured provincial autonomy
• enjoined reciprocal obligations between the federal units.

But this was breached, resulting in:

• an insurgency in Balochistan in the 1970s and 2000s.
• fanning Pashtun nationalism

Resentment among the smaller provinces was magnified by:

• centralising power from long periods of unrepresentative rule
• the Army being drawn from the Punjab.

Musharraf’s rule accentuated Baloch disaffection just as the Zia era was marred by Sindhi nationalism, leading to the execution of the country’s first elected Prime Minister from Sindh

The killing of Baloch leader Akbar Bugti dming a military operation in 2006 further inflamed the situation.

Provincial tensions have not just been an expression of the diversity of language and culture and the limitations of nation-building efforts.

They have also reflected disputes over the distribution of:

• financial and natural resources
• water and gas

For 18 years, squabbles over resources prevented any accord in the National Finance Commission, the federal body changed with determining financial allocations between the provinces.

When agreement was reached in March 2010 it was justifiably hailed as a ‘victory’ for the revived democratic process in the country.

Competition for scarce resources also continues to be an impetus for intra-provincial tensions-between:

• indigenous Sindhis and Muhajirs in Sindh
• Pashtuns and Baloch in Balochistan.

The led to new demans for:

• a new Hazara province in KP voiced during 2010
• a separate Seraiki province in Punjab

These illustrate that issues of distributive justice.

The clientelist nature of politics delays this by its focus on the particular rather than the whole.

The influence of religion in national politics has also ebbed and flowed.

Questions about the role of Islam in the state and society were rooted in the very origin of Pakistan, intended by its secular founders as a Muslim-majority state.

But this vision was contested by the religious parties notably:

• the Jamaat-e-Islami
• a section of the clergy.

They pressed for an Islamic state but without specifying what this meant.

Some of their demands that were accommodated by various governments found expression in:

• the Hudood Ordinance
• blasphemy laws
• the establishment of the Islamic Ideology Council charged with ascertaining if laws adopted were contrary to Islam.

Nevertheless the poor showing of religious parties in elections helped the state stay secular throughout much of its history.

Their combined vote never exceeded 11%.

The Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal (MMA) is an alliance of 5 religious parties, backed by Musharraf in 2002.

• Even then, the MMA could win only 20% of seats in Parliament’s Lower House.

It won control of the NWFP and Balochistan governments but its uninspiring performance in office ensured its rout in the 2008 polls.

Various governments used Islam to mobilise the country. This created division rather than unity.

Ayesha Jalal points out, for the first 3 decades of its existence, Pakistan functioned as a moderate, liberal state with Islam ‘kept in check’ in state affairs.

This changed under General Zia who embarked on a self-assigned mission to Islamise the country including its legal and educational system.

• Zia fused politics and religion in using Islam to legitimate his rule.
• These policies polarised society along religious and sectarian lines.

Combined with the effects of the Afghan war, this spawned extremism and saw the birth of militant groups.