The Pakistan Paradox: Instability and Resilience (The Ceri Series in Comparative Politics and International Studies)

Pakistan was born as the creation of elite Urdu-speaking Muslims who sought to govern a state that would maintain their dominance. After rallying non-Urdu speaking leaders around him, Jinnah imposed a unitary definition of the new nation state that obliterated linguistic diversity. This centralisation - 'justified' by the Indian threat - fostered centrifugal forces that resulted in Bengali secessionism in 1971 and Baloch, as well as Mohajir, separatisms today. Concentration of power in the hands of the establishment remained the norm, and while authoritarianism peaked under military rule, democracy failed to usher in reform, and the rule of law remained fragile at best under Zulfikar Bhutto and later Nawaz Sharif. While Jinnah and Ayub Khan regarded religion as a cultural marker, since their time theIslamists have gradually prevailed. They benefited from the support of General Zia, while others, including sectarian groups, cashed in on their struggle against the establishment to woo the disenfranchised. Today, Pakistan faces existential challenges ranging from ethnic strife to Islamism, two sources of instability which hark back to elite domination. But the resilience of the country and its people, the resolve of the judiciary and hints of reform in the army may open up new possibilities. Examines The History Of Pakistan From Its Creation By Elite Urdo-speaking Muslims Who Sought To Maintain Their Dominance To The Current Rise Of Islamists And Ethnic Separatists. Nationalism Without A Nation, And Even Without A People? The Socio-ethnic Origins Of Indian Muslim Separatism : The Reform Phase (1857-1906) ; An Elite In Search Of A State, And A Nation (1906-1947) ; Islamic State Or A Collection Of Ethnic Groups? From One Partition To The Next ; Five Ethnic Groups For One Nation : Between Support And Alienation -- Neither Democracy Nor Autocracy? Impossible Democracy Or Impossible Democrats ; Variable-geometry Military Dictatorship ; The Judiciary, The Media And Ngos : In Search Of Opposition Forces -- Islam : Territorial Ideology Or Political Religion? From Jinnah's Secularism To Zia's Islamisation Policy ; Jihadism, Sectarianism And Talibanism : From Military/mullah Cooperation To 9/11 ; Toward Civil War? The State Vs. (some) Islamists And The Islamists Vs. The Minorities. Christophe Jaffrelot ; Translated By Cynthia Schoch. Includes Bibliographical References (pages 657-659) And Index. A political history of Pakistan that explains the resilience of the state and its people and how both persevere against the odds. It dissects the complicated political history of the country from its emergence as a nation state, and argues that Pakistan is entering a period of stability, despite the many crises it faces