Pakistan: Islam, radicalism and the army.

• Author: Shuja, Sharif
• Pages: 54(9)

Pakistan's current political and societal profile is shaped by the cultural and historical influences of the Middle East, Central Asia and South Asia as well as the British colonial legacy and the nation- and state-building challenges of the 21st century. Religion and nationalism combined to create the demand for the separate state of Pakistan, but these could not serve as the enduring bases of nationhood. Pakistan found it problematic to establish a participatory, pluralist and decentralised political framework incorporating linguistic, ethnic and regional diversities and economic disparities. Additional challenges were posed by the rise of Islamic extremism and militancy, which had implications for Pakistan's domestic politics and foreign policy.

For decades, groups that the United States considered terrorist organisations have been supported by Pakistan in order to promote its foreign policy goals in the disputed state of Kashmir, a territory to which both India and Pakistan lay claim, and in the neighbouring country of Afghanistan. The practice of supporting militant groups in Kashmir and Afghanistan contributed to intense political violence in the region and to the proliferation of terrorist networks in Pakistan itself. After one of these organisations, al Qaeda, was accused of directing the attacks on New York's World Trade Center and the Pentagon in September 2001, Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf not only decided to withdraw support from some of Pakistan's former allies, but he also decided to aid the United States in eradicating them. Many Islamists in Pakistan regarded Musharraf's decision as a betrayal, while the most militant opponents of the decision to aid America took to the streets in protest or committed violent acts against the Pakistani Government, including a few attempts on Musharraf's life.

The problem of confronting militant Islamists in the wake of America's war on terror is just one of the major issues facing Pakistan at the beginning of the 21st century. Years of confrontation with India, including three wars and two skirmishes that could have led to a nuclear attack, have contributed to rising public debt, declining economic productivity and widespread illiteracy and poverty in Pakistani society. The country has a tribal and feudal social structure, an Islamic ideology and a legal and political system that is British in origin. Islamic and secular law battle each other. Tribal loyalties, religious tensions and feudal social structure have distorted the democratic process.

ISLAM, EXTREMISM AND MILITANCY

Pakistan is based on an idea. It came into existence through the efforts of Muslims to protect their dispersed religious community in South Asia from the antagonism of the much larger Hindu community in India. Different people in it will have some sort of ideal that the place is supposed to be living up to. But too many Pakistanis seemed disappointed. The basic question of how the country should be run does not seem to have been solved, and the matter occupies many Pakistani minds. The country has been torn between conflicting cultures since its birth in 1947.

While Islam is a major force in Pakistan and many Pakistanis are considered devout followers, adherence to the faith has not prevented the development of considerable strife between the various nationalities which comprise Pakistan. This strife has, in fact, done much to undermine the national structure and has contributed to ethnic conflicts.

In Pakistan, the role of religion is not a settled issue. This greatly impacts on statecraft, the status and rights of minorities, and the larger question of internal peace and security.

Complex historical and social factors have shaped the interaction between religion and politics in Pakistan. Islam was at the heart of the political struggle for the creation of Pakistan and has remained at the centre of post-Independence political discourse. Controversy about the role of Islam in politics continues to trouble the political landscape of the country. Even after half a century, the relationship between religion and state is still as unclear as the nature and direction of the democratic enterprise. The question of what type of polity Pakistan should be--liberal democratic or Islamic--evokes different responses from different social sectors and political interests. Military leaders, mainstream political parties and Islamists have all attempted to define this relationship according to their differing opinions of democratic development and the role of religion in society and state affairs.

Among the three main forces in the country, the quest for shaping the Pakistani...