Pakistan in National and Regional Change by C. Christine Fair Shaun Gregory

Author:C. Christine Fair, Shaun Gregory [C. Christine Fair, Shaun Gregory]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780415831345
Barnesnoble:
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Published: 2013-06-14T00:00:00+00:00

Why Pakistani nationalism matters

As Ahmed Rashid rightly comments, Pakistan is not a failed state or even a failing state (Rashid 2011). Pakistan persists as a country because of the scale of patronage networks, mutual social obligations and the constant Pakistani nationalism (Lieven 2011). The vast majority of Pakistanis believe in Pakistan (Jaffrelot 2002), even if they long to spend time beyond Pakistani shores (Imran 2011: 417). Only some Baloch dissent from this national – and nationalist – consensus. Pakistani nationalism has repeatedly been used as a tool to integrate Pakistan (Chaudhry and McDonough 1984: 21) and delegitimise political opponents. Those calling for radical change can easily be dismissed as foreign agents. Zia was just one of the number of Pakistani leaders who did so (Syed 1978: 1259). Marvin Weinbaum has argued that Pakistan illustrates a ‘paranoid style’ in politics, with a defensive preoccupation with external threats (Weinbaum 1996: 648–49). This includes repeated charges of external conspiracies against Pakistan from 1948 onwards, as the author’s archival research has revealed. A number of these charges were made against the United States or even Israel. For example, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto claimed that there was a US-led conspiracy against him in 1977.

Pakistani nationalism remains a potent force in the Pakistani politics and society. Whether responding to perceived US challenges to Pakistani sovereignty or affirming Pakistan’s dignity in the face of a terrible contemporary international public image, proud Pakistanis pack a political punch. Politicians can use nationalism as a tool to cultivate voters, including as a distraction from the mundane but repetitive problem of the lack of government delivery. It is unsurprising that the Pakistani politician to watch in 2012 – Imran Khan – spends time asserting core Pakistani nationalist themes as well as cultivating the anti-politics of populism. It was no accident that Khan raised the Kashmir issue during his October 2011 Lahore rally or that he emphasized Pakistan’s sovereign rights vis-à-vis the United States. Such rhetoric is not new. Zulfikar Ali Bhutto used anti-American rhetoric to emphasize his Pakistani nationalist credentials in the late 1970s, while Nawaz Sharif has used similar language. Sharif now stands to lose out if Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) aggressively pursues a political campaign in the Punjab, abetted by its recruitment of politicians like Shah Mehmood Qureshi, a major political figure in Southern Punjab and the former foreign minister. Qureshi brings a constituency with him, including the organisational capacity to deliver votes, a competence in which the PTI remains unproven.

In addition to the political and state-building benefits of nationalist discourse, this recurring rhetoric helped solidify a domain of public political discourse in Pakistan that discourages efforts at political transformation or reform. As Ziring put it in 1977:

Collective purpose is very hard to sustain through artificial means. In part, this explains Pakistan’s early preoccupation with India. But it also suggests why so many Pakistanis refused to come to grips with their real problems. Blaming someone else for one’s own failings is a trait that is certainly not unique with the Pakistanis.

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