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Mustafa 1 Syed Hussain Mustafa

2013-02-0196

Taimur Rehman

POL 212

27 December 2011

Identity crisis and class struggle in Pakistan

Pakistan is a diverse state with regards to the various ethnicities and strata it plays host to.

If one employs a cursory glance at the majority of the historical accounts of the creations of the

country, it becomes quite apparent that Islam was one of the more propelling factors in the

independence movement for the country. But since independence, religion has been unable to

unite people and to provide them with a common identity. The concept of Pakistani nationalism,

which is based solely on religion, is still unable to bind people together into a cohesive national

unit. Therefore Pakistanis are suffering from a common identity crisis. People of different

regions are confused about the basic denominator of a common identity and prefer to be known

as Punjabi, Sindhi, Pashtoon, Balochis and Muhajirs rather than Pakistanis. This is the reason

that no class struggle has been able to fulfill its core objective in this country and falls flat from

its moment of inception.

In the independence movement of Pakistan, the slogan of Islam was used to unite and

organize people. All the Muslim leaders of All India Muslim League were convinced that

Muslims were different from Hindus of the subcontinent with regard to their culture, religious

rituals etc. On the basis of such differences, they demanded a separate Islamic state for the

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Mustafa 3 ³The real struggle of the Pakistan movement « was not so much to create a territorial

home-land for India¶s Muslims, as it was to create a Muslim political community, to define a

symbolic center to give moral and political meaning to the concept of a united µMuslim

community¶ in India.´

Muhammad Ali Jinnah wanted a united India at one point in time but due to some reasons

he changed his opinion and started to believe that Muslims and Hindus can never peacefully co-

exist. He expressed this idea in his speech in 1940:

³«..Hindus and Muslims can ever evolve a common nationality, and this misconception

of one Indian nation has gone far beyond the limits and is the cause of most of our troubles and

will lead India to destruction if we fail to revise our notions in time. The Hindus and Muslims

belong to two different religious philosophies, social customs, and cultures. This becomes

evident from the fact that traditionally marriages are not carried out between people of the two

traditions. Both of them belong to two different civilizations which are based mainly on

conflicting ideas and conceptions««To yoke together two such nations under a single state

must lead to growing discontent and final destruction of any fabric that may be so built up for the

government of such a state.´

Now the question arises that was Pakistan created for Islam or only for the Muslims of

this region? Although the Two Nation Theory was based on Islam but if we analyze this more

critically then we can say that Pakistan was formed to protect the social and economic interests

of the Muslims of pre independent India. Muslims ruled Subcontinent for almost 500 years

although they were a minority in the subcontinent. But when British came and captured the

subcontinent, Muslims were sidelined. They were unable to keep pace with the transition which

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Mustafa 4 the British had brought along. On the other hand, it was nothing new for Hindus. They were

ruled by Muslims before and now British were there rulers. They started to learn the language

and culture of the new rulers. But it was difficult for Muslims to forget their glorious past in the

region. The result was that Muslims declined not only in their rule but also in their culture. They

felt helpless. Due to this despondent state, some Muslim leaders like Sir Syed Ahmed Khan

appeared on the scene and advised the Muslims to forget their past and to adapt to the transitions

which were taking place. But it was too late by then. Hindus were ahead of Muslims in all the

fields and also they were in majority. That¶s why at last Muslim leaders started to think about a

separate state for Muslims which could protect their interests. But for the interest of a minority, it

was difficult to demand for a separate state. Therefore Muslim leaders used the slogan of Islam

at that time. They told the British that Muslims were totally different from Hindus in each and

every aspect of life so they could not live with them in the same state. That state was initially

demanded under the British rule but when Muslim leaders saw that British had decided to leave

India they initiated the slogan of the division of the subcontinent. Thus we can say that Pakistan

was formed for Muslims due to their economic and political interest and not for Islam. This is the

reason that some Muslims Ulema opposed the concept of Pakistan like Maulana Abul Kalam

Azad and Maulana Maududi, the founder of Jammat-e-Islami. While Quaid-e-Azam wanted just

a Muslim state which will be secular in its methods of governance.

So the struggle for Pakistan was not for the separate homeland for the Muslims to

practice Islam but it was for the political interest of the Muslims of subcontinent. As David

Gilmartin writes in his article that,

³The real struggle of the Pakistan movement « was not so much to create a territorial

home-land for India¶s Muslims, as it was to create a Muslim political community, to define a

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Mustafa 5 symbolic center to give moral and political meaning to the concept of a united µMuslim

community¶ in India.´

When Pakistan gained independence in 1947, it was unclear whether it was an Islamic

state or just a Muslim State. In the independence movement there was just Pan Islamism or

Islamic nationalism but, after the independence, the concept of Pakistani nationalism was

introduced. Quaid-e-Azam himself thought of Islam as a complete way of life. In August, 1941

he gave an interview to the students of Osmania University. In that interview he answer the

question that, ³what are the essential features of religion and a religious state?´

³When I hear the word ³religion,´ my mind thinks at once, according to the English

language and British usage, of private relations between man and God. But I know full well that

according to Islam, the word is not restricted to the English connotation. I am neither a Maulwi

nor a Mullah, nor do I claim knowledge of theology. But I have studied in my own way the Holy

Quran and Islamic tenets. This magnificent book is full of guidance respecting all human life,

whether spiritual, or economic, political or social, leaving no aspect untouched.´

It can be said that Muhammad Ali Jinnah wanted Pakistan neither as a state in which

Islam was imposed nor a state which would be completely secular. H wanted to avoid the

extremities of pure theocracy and secularism and wanted Pakistan to be a Muslim state which

should provide its people with an opportunity to live their lives in freedom and independence.

But when Pakistan was formed, it included Muslims of different culture, language and

ethnicities. He urged them forget their identities as Punjabis, Sindhis etc. He said in his address

to Quetta municipality in 1948:

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Mustafa 6 ³Yet this is a truth people so easily seem to forget and begin to prize local, sectional or

provincial interests above and regardless of the national interests. It naturally pains me to find the

curse of provincialism holding sway over any section of Pakistan. Pakistan must be rid of this

evil«.. We are now all Pakistanis--not Baluchis, Pathans, Sindhis, Bengalis, Punjabis and so on

and as Pakistanis we must feet behave and act, and we should be proud to be known as

Pakistanis and nothing else.´

Although he wanted to unite the people of newly born Pakistan and bind them into a

common identity but there should had been equality into the new nation. He wanted equality

among the citizens of Pakistan. He said in his speech to the constituent assembly of Pakistan on

August 11, 1947, ³We are starting with this fundamental principle that we are all citizens and

equal citizens of one State.´ But after his death we saw the horrific incident of 1971 due to

incapability and immaturity of later politicians. Today we are also facing almost same kind of

situation in Baluchistan.

Quaid-e-Azam wanted Pakistan to be a state which is governed of the basic principles of

Islam which are equality and social justice. He never wanted Pakistan to be a fundamental

Islamic state. He said in his speech on 19th February, 1948, ³The great majority of us are

Muslims. We follow the teachings of the Prophet Mohammed (May peace be upon him). We are

members of the brotherhood of Islam in which all are equal in rights, dignity and self-respect.

Consequently, we have a special and a very deep sense of unity. But make no mistake: Pakistan

is not a theocracy or anything like it.´

In his speech to constituent assembly of Pakistan on August 11, 1947, he said, ³You are

free; you are free to go to your temples. You are free to go to your mosques or to any other

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Mustafa 7 places of worship in this State of Pakistan. You may belong to any religion, caste or creed that

has nothing to do with the business of the State.´

He never wanted to enforce and implement the religious teachings of Islam. He just had

the opinion that Islamic teaching can provide solutions to the problem of modern world state

affairs. So he wanted a Pakistani state that is governed on the principles of Islam but state should

not interfere in people religious life.

Thus Pakistan was formed using the name of Islam but after its creation, the nationalistic

direction that the country was to take was an unanswered question, lacking the common identity

that could bind people into a common group or a nation. People of different ethnicities were

never able to forget their regional identities and hence unable to transform into a Pakistani

nation. Punjab always remained a dominant province because it was relatively more developed in

the educational structures and industrial sectors. Therefore other provinces felt aggrieved. They

thought that they would have an equal share in Pakistan but they were not given their due share.

That is reason that federation always remained weak in Pakistan. Today, in Pakistan, most of the

class movements are based on regional politics. Sindhi nationalist are fighting for the rights of

Sindhi people, Saraikis are fighting for their separate province and even Baluchis are fighting for

their separate country. The rhetoric employed is along regional and ethnic lines. But nobody is

organizing the working and labor class in Pakistan to fight for their rights with the feudal lords

and capitalists.

A nation is recognized from its culture. It is what gives a nation a common identity.

Pakistan was formed on the basis of the proposition that Muslims of subcontinent had different

cultural outlooks from Hindus. But the fact of the matter remains that there was a lot of cultural

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Mustafa 8 diversity amongst Muslims themselves. So when the question came to the culture of Pakistani

nation after the creation of Pakistan it was difficult to determine that what the main cultural

attributes of Pakistan were. Islam was just a religion and practiced in every region and culture of

the world. It had no distinct culture but was just a set of principles and guidelines about life. As

Saadia Toor explains:

³Since authoritative claims to power in this period of world history must be made in the

name of µthe nation¶, defining the latter becomes a contest between different aspirants to power.

And since nations are defined by their unique cultures, µnational culture¶ becomes the locus of

these struggles over hegemony. This is why, although Pakistani culture ± its existence, its

content,et al. ± has been the subject of debate at any given point in Pakistani history, the most

intense engagements and contestations can be traced to particular periods of political upheaval ±

especially those that Habermas would call µlegitimation crises´

As there was no common national culture for Pakistan so the legitimacy of the nation was

at stake itself. It was a serious concern for the establishment to define national culture of

Pakistan. Many intellectual at that point pointed out that Pakistan is suffering from an identity

crisis due to the absence of common culture. After the war of 1965 Jalibi wrote:

³[if] someone attacks our geographical borders, or occupies an area of land, we instantly

know that the frontiers of our country have been attacked, and we expend all our strength in

winning back that piece of land. But when this attack is aimed at our cultural frontiers, we don¶t

even realize it nor do we experience a sense of loss [because we don¶t know what our cultural

boundaries are]´

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Mustafa 9 Pakistan is country with a large area. It is difficult to govern that whole area as one unit.

But it was a blunder to take away the regional identity from people for nothing. The purpose

behind forming a unit of West Pakistan was only a political motive that superiority of West

Pakistan can be established on East Pakistan. In 1955-56, Mr. Mumtaz Muhammad Khan

Daultana gave a speech in the constituent assembly of Pakistan and argued that West Pakistan

always remained as a unit in the history because it shared common culture. He said in his speech:

³Here again, from the very first day, the people of West Pakistan had always accepted the

same spiritual heritage, the same mental direction. I do not speak of today or of the seven or

eight hundred years that have passed, but even before the advent of Islam, the philosophy and

thought of West Pakistan had been united. In the final fulfillment of our existence, in the final

development and culmination of our thought, when our ears heard the noble message of Islam,

we accepted it, not with hesitation, not through conflict, but all the areas of West Pakistan

accepted it as if at one moment of illumination, within the first century of the advent of

Islam«««Sir, in culture and spirit and mind we have always, not today, from the very

beginning of time been one indissoluble integrated unity.´

In his speech Mr. Daultana just talked about the unity of the West Pakistan and he gave

reference of the Hindu culture of the subcontinent. He ignored the fact that he was talking about

a state which was formed on the slogan of Islam. The members of the assembly from West

Pakistan were angry with his arguments and criticized him in the same session of the assembly.

One member from the East Pakistan said, ³Sir, I was wondering whether I was listening to our

friend Mr. Mumtaz Muhammad Khan Daultana in the Constituent Assembly of Pakistan

delivering a speech on the indivisibility of West Pakistan or I was listening to Dr. Rajendra

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Mustafa 10 Prasad at a Congress session at Delhi propounding the theory of indivisibility of Mother India!´

Another member of East Pakistan replied in anger:

³.« if everybody in the House closes his eyes and the name of Mian Mumtaz Daultana is

effaced from the records and either the name of Sardar Patel «or even that of Gandhiji

is substituted in his place and the words µOne Unit¶ are dropped and the idea of Akhand

Hindustan is placed in its place and if the whole speech is read in a meeting of Hindu

Mahasabha, I think the entire Hindu Mahasabha will rise and sing Halleluiah to our Mian

Mumtaz Daultana « If you look into his speech, to his references to a civilization which was

here supposed to be 4000 B.C. you will see that he is proud of that. His references to Mohenjo-

daro, his references to Harappa, his references to Ashoka, you look at them. If you belong to that

civilization then why are you here? Go where the Ashoka Chakra is flying over the beautiful

mosque built by Shah Jahan.´

To eradicate provincialism and establish the authority of federation, such strategies were

used which eventually served the opposite purpose. People were angry because leaders of

Muslim League told them that every citizen and every group of any ethnic background had equal

share in Pakistan but there was no practicality or feasibility in their speeches. Most of the leaders

were from strong feudal backgrounds and were solely protecting their own interests.

Another integral part of a nationalistic culture is a uniform mode of communication or

language. After the creation of Pakistan, Urdu was declared as the national language. At that

point there were very few people who could speak Urdu in the West Pakistan. But in East

Pakistan, there was nobody who could read and write Urdu. Also languages of West Pakistan

were similar to Urdu but there were no similarities in Urdu and Bangla. It was almost the same

situation as it was after 1857 when British declared English as official language. People of

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Mustafa 11 Bengal thought that Urdu has no link to their culture so they felt aggrieved. Although later in the

constitution of 1962 Bangla was also declared as national language along with Urdu but it was

too late then. In the election of 1970, Awami League of Sheikh Mujeeb-ur-Rehman from East

Pakistan got majority but West Pakistani leader Mr. Bhutto rejected his majority and didn¶t allow

him to form government. Also army was involved in rape and murder of thousands of Bengalis.

These were the reasons that Pakistan lost almost half of its area in 1971 and East Pakistan

emerged as Bangladesh on the map of the world. Islam which is called the common identity for

Pakistani nation was unable to hold the state of Pakistan together.

Islam cannot be considered as the common identity for Pakistan because there is so much

sectarian diversity in Pakistan. There are Shias, Sunnis and Wahabis etc. They all follow and

practice different Fiqs (Juristic positions) of Islam. Therefore when Zia-ul-Haq tried to change

Pakistan in to pure theocratic state and implement Islam, Shias rejected that Islamization. They

rejected the law that Zakat will be cut by government automatically from bank accounts at the

end of the year. According to Jaffari Fiq of Islam, Zakat is not obligatory on currency notes

because value of currency does not remain same during the year in comparison with gold. At the

end, Zia government agreed to give exception to Shias from this law.

Ulema should have played their role in creating consciousness about social inequality

amongst people as it happened in the case of Iranian revolution of 1979. But this is not the case

in Pakistan. There are several reasons behind this. One reason is that feudal land lords are also

Makhdooms (Pir) in their regions and they have a huge religious following. No one can think of

taking a stand against them and asking for their rights. These feudal are also the political figures

of their constituencies. These regions include Saraiki region of Punjab and the whole interior

Sindh. In the upper Punjab politics is linked with the industry. Politicians of upper Punjab are

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Mustafa 12 industrialists themselves or they have the support of industrialists. Most of the population is

somehow associated with the industry in upper Punjab so no one has the courage to stand against

the industrialists. In the case of Baluchistan and KPK, politics revolves around tribal land lords.

There is no area in Pakistan where Ulema are not dependent on feudal land lords or industrialists.

Therefore they have always protected the interest of elite class. Ulema also remained the part of

governments at different times. They talk about making Pakistan a pure Islamic state but they

never spoke about social inequality and injustice. At the time of Zia-ul-Haq, when people like

Habib Jalib and Faiz organizing people for a social and economic struggle, Ulema were in

support of Zia-ul-Haq. They never tried to play their role in economic struggles although Islam

opposed the idea of social inequality in society.

Although Ulema are dependent on feudal and elites in Pakistan, the relation between

them is very complex. This is because the Pakistani people are extremely sensitive about their

religion. Any religious discourse not in tune with perception of the masses regarding their

religious dispositions can have detrimental and chaotic social repercussions. That is why the

country is suffering from Islamic extremism. Salman Taseer was an elitist but he just spoke

about an issue which was related to Islam. Ulema exploited that issue which resulted in his

murder. Although it seems that Ulema have absolute influence on the minds of people but this

could be the case that this issue is exploited through Ulema by opposite political group. In the

end it comes to the political and economic interest of elites.

Due to immature policies of the governments of the past we are today suffering from an

identity crisis which is more severe in nature than it was at the time of independence. In 1947,

although there was no binding agent that could transform people of different ethnicities into a

nation but there was no clash among different ethnic groups. Now the situation is that although

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Mustafa 13 Mazarah of Sindh and Punjab are suffering from the same pain, they consider each other as

enemies due to ethnic conflicts. They are misguided by their leaders who don¶t care about lower

class. They just want to protect their economic and political interests. One example is the issue of

Kalabagh dam which is politicized and exploited by the politicians of Sindh in such a way that

there is no hope left it can be built ever. Punjabi politicians mostly remained in power in the

federation. They exploited other provinces along with Punjab to fulfill their interests. Now the

situation is that the people of other provinces think that all the Punjabis are their enemy but the

ground reality is that Punjabis are still poor and living their lives below the poverty line. The

reason for Punjabi enmity was that the culture of this region culture always remained dominant

in Pakistan. Any cursory perusal of the TV channels today will show that most of the artists are

from Karachi or Lahore. The reason for this is the fact that Lahore had a very developed artistic

structure at the time of independence and with the passage of time it became the centre of art in

Pakistan. Punjab remained dominant not only in culture but in every other aspect of life.

According to the census of 1951, Punjabis were only 25% of the population but they occupied

80% of the army and 55% administrative posts.

Common Identity is necessary for a class struggle to achieve its objective. But Pakistani

people are facing an identity crisis. There are some class related movements in Pakistan today as

well as in the past but these movements never able to organize people on country level. They

never gained popularity in each and every region of Pakistan. They remained restricted to some

region. The reason is that people of different region of Pakistan don¶t feel for each other.

Common identity and culture play the role of binding agent in a nation but we lack both of them.

If we look at the history then we will see that common cultural dynamics bind people to

form a nation and then that nation transform itself into a nation sate. But in the case of Pakistan it

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Mustafa 14 happened in the reverse order. We first formed a nation state then introduced the concept of

Pakistani Nationalism and then we tried to give that nation a common culture. It was almost

impossible to satisfy the demands of people of each ethnic and linguist background in that

process. The result is there in the history. First the incident of 1971 took place and now the

insurgency in Baluchistan has come the fore. Both the incidents indicate a failed ideology which

reeks of political rather than national interests. The fact of the matter remains that in order to

achieve an ideal; one always has to pay the dues which accompany the baggage of achievement

in this regard. This has not been the case in Pakistan. The mistake lies in both the aspects. Not

only have the historical dues not been paid but there is the setting of a flawed ideal as well. One

needs to redefine the general form of political rhetoric that permeates the contemporary Pakistani

life. There issues should be formulated according to the actual plight of the people which are

economic and structural rather than nationalistic and ethnic. When the more immediate concerns

of labor and class struggle will be addressed can there be blossoming of a cultural revival

amongst the people of Pakistan on a more united front.

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Mustafa 15

Works Cited

Alam , Dr Mansoor. "Quaid-e-Azam, Islam, and Pakistan." Quaid-e-Azam Mohammad Ali

Jinnah. Web. 27 Dec. 2011. <http://m-a-jinnah.blogspot.com/2011/02/quaid-e-azam-

islam-and-pakistan.html>.

Constituent Assembly of Pakistan Debates (1955-56). Karachi: Government of Pakistan. Print.

Engineer, Asghar Ali. "Pakistan: Religion, Politics and Society." Economic and Political Weekly

31 (1996): 2800-803. JSTOR. Web. 27 Dec. 2011.

<http://www.jstor.org/stable/pdfplus/4404680.pdf?acceptTC=true>.

Gilmartin, David. "Partition, Pakistan, and South Asian History: In Search of a Narrative." The

Journal of Asian Studies 57 (1998): 1068-095. JSTOR. Web. 27 Dec. 2011.

<http://www.jstor.org/stable/2659304>.

"Iqbal and Pakistan Movement." Welcome to Allama Iqbal Site. Web. 27 Dec. 2011.

<http://www.allamaiqbal.com/person/movement/move_main.htm>.

Jalibi, Jamil. Pakistani Culture: The Problem of the Creation of a National Culture. Karachi:

Mushtaq Book Depot. Print.

"M.A. Jinnah Quotes." Quaid-e-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah. Web. 27 Dec. 2011. <http://m-a-

jinnah.blogspot.com/2010/03/quotes.html>.

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Mustafa 16 "Pakistan or Punjabistan?" Web. 27 Dec. 2011. <http://www.paklinks.com/gs/pakistan-

affairs/193005-pakistan-or-punjabistan.html>.

Toor, Saadia. "A National Culture for Pakistan: the Political Economy of a Debate." Inter-Asia

Cultural Studies 6.3 (2005): 318-40. Print.

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