ne of the most serious challenges the state of Pakistan has faced since its creation in 1947 is the increasing self-assertion of various ethnic groups for the protection of their identity and economic resources.

Out of the five ethnic groups acknowledged initially —Bengalis, Punjabis, Pakhtuns, Sindhis and the Baloch — four have actively questioned, contested and confronted the legitimacy of the state regarding its monopoly over the definition of national culture and allocation of economic resources to the constituent units. Despite being the largest ethnic group, the Bengalis seceded and have created an independent nation-state.

Since governments have been unable to deliver essential services, the state-citizen gap has widened and a national identity remains elusive.

In an interesting statement before the Supreme Court in 1987, Pakhtun nationalist Wali Khan said that he had been a Pakhtun for 4,000 years, a Muslim for 1,400 years and a Pakistani for forty years.

There is an urgent need to comprehend that the objective of peaceful co-existence can only be achieved through recognition and respect of ethnic, cultural and religious diversity. The state-citizen bond needs strengthening through equitable distribution of economic resources and political power, ensuring social justice and making state capable of taking care of the citizens’ day-to-day needs.

Identities have a significant role in the social, political and cultural life of individuals and groups. Identity is an individual’s or a group’s perception of self and the other. Identity formation, as a political enterprise, is a dynamic process. Identities are often layered and contextual. There are always multiple identities available to an individual. The assertion of a particular identity is made in view of the instrumental reasons. Most people shape their identities by defining themselves in relation to and in contrast to others. The similarities and differences, as opposed to others, receive added importance in times of crisis, competition and conflict.

In fact, competition and conflict are key components that define a person’s identity. These attributes of identity are determined between individuals and groups operating within the same space or arena. For example, a forceful assertion of religious identities took place during the British rule when the colonial authorities introduced competition in the political arena in the form of electoral processes and mechanisms to count, classify and control. Political and economic interests were then articulated and asserted in religious terms, giving rise to religious nationalism in South Asia.

The concept of nationalism was late to arrive in India. Hindu, Muslim and Sikh elites led the process of an exclusive, faith-based nationalist upsurge of identities in their respective communities. Benedict Anderson, in his remarkable book Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Development of Nationalism (1983), argues that nations are imagined communities. This imagination is reinforced 24/7 through museums, maps, flags, anthems, national holidays and incessant use of media. The massive use of print media played significant role in sharpening religious identities during the colonial period.

Identities play a significant role in the social, political and cultural life of individuals and groups. Identity is an individual’s or a group’s perception of self and the other. Identity formation, as a political enterprise, is a dynamic process. Identities are layered and contextual.

Religion can be one of the most potent, creative and beneficial forces in human affairs. However, it also has the potential for giving rise to sectarian divisions within a community and intolerance towards other faiths. It can be argued that most Twentieth Century reformers sought to de-historicise and a-historicise religion. While defining Islamic modernism, Muhammad Qasim Zaman posits in his book Islam in Pakistan: A History (2018) that it is a complex of religious, intellectual and political initiatives aimed at adapting Islam to the challenges of life in the modern world. Such challenges were felt most forcefully under European colonial rule. Hence, boundaries between religions and within religious communities became important.

Urdu was identified as the lingua franca of the Muslim community. This emphasised the importance of the study of Arabic and Persian as the scriptural and cultural languages of Islam. Urdu was increasingly Arabicised and Hindi Sanskritised during the colonial period, argues Tariq Rahman’s in his seminal book From Hindi to Urdu: A Social and Political History (2017). One of the propositions advanced by the leaders of the Pakistan Movement was that the Muslims of the subcontinent were spiritually closer to the Muslims living beyond the territorial limits of India than to their non-Muslim neighbours. This was a political stance derived from Muslims elite’s sense of exclusiveness in Indian environment. This sense of exclusiveness is explained by Imtiaz Ahmad in The Ashraf-Ajlaf Dichotomy in Muslim Social Structure in India (1966). He argues that persons of Turco-Persian and Arab lineage saw themselves as Ashraf (high-born) and the local convert to Islam as Ajlaf (low-born).

The period after Partition added another ethnic group to the competitive arena in the shape of the Indian Muslim migrants, commonly known as Muhajirs. Many of them had been at the forefront of the movement for Pakistan. Their stand after Partition was in favour of the centralising policies of the state. Right after its creation, Pakistan was turned into a migrant state, argues Muhammad Waseem in Political Conflict in Pakistan (2021). “More than seven decades later, Pakistan is still, in the eyes of Sindhis, Pakhtuns and the Baloch, just as for East Bengalis before 1971, a Mohajir-Punjabi state,” he reiterates.

Besides linguistic differences, factors such as lack of constituencies and monopoly over state institutions drove them to keep other ethnic groups out of power. After three decades of independence they too became disillusioned with the administrative structure of the state and formed the Muhajir Qaumi Movement. During mid-1980s, backed by establishment due to its conflict with the Pakistan Peoples Party, this group emerged as the most organised political party and a pressure group in the political system.

The only ethnic group that seems to have been satisfied and content with the Pakistani state structure has been the Punjabis. The reason for this relative contentment is that they have been over-represented in the state apparatus and non-representative institutions like military and civil bureaucracy as well as business, commerce and industry.

Nation building has various dimensions i.e. constitutional, socio-economic, cultural and political. Cultural co-existence and nation building (not cultural assimilation and national integration) can be promoted by reducing the trust-gap between citizens and the state. Unfortunately, state repression and coercion of the colonial period has continued in the post-colonial period. The focus should be on making an inclusive and social welfare state rather than a security state. There is a need for provincial, regional and institutional autonomy based upon the letter and spirit of the constitution.

Nation-building can take place by establishing social justice; by reducing regional and class disparities; by recognising cultural diversity; and by providing every cultural unit space for its expression and development. Recognising religious diversity is equally important. Distribution of economic resources should be equitable and through a political process.

The writer heads the History Department at University of Sargodha. He has worked as a research fellow at Royal Holloway College, University of London. He can be reached at abrar.zahoor@hotmail.com. His X handle: @AbrarZahoor1