Ethnicity, Islam and National Identity in Pakistan

Abstract

Since its creation in 1947, Pakistan has been confronted with the self-assertion of one ethnic group or another. Although all of these groups are Muslim and they have never questioned the Muslim identity of the state, they have serious reservations about the state's overarching definition of Muslim-Pakistani identity at the expense of regional ethnic identities. This essay proposes to analyse the issue of Pakistan's national identity by looking at the state-society relationship in that country as well as the use and abuse of Islam as an ideology. The areas that were to form the state of Pakistan, after the Partition of British India, had five major ethnic groups, namely, Bengalis, Punjabis, Pakhtuns, Sindhis, and Baloch - each with its own distinct language and culture. To that, another group, Muhajir (literally meaning migrant), was added in the shape of Indian Muslim migrants, predominantly from Muslim minority provinces of north India. There are a few points about the creation of Pakistan that need to be noted at the outset.