Pakistan: a Multinational State in Denial

Pakistan effectively came into being as a truncated state that had seceded from the Indian Union. The use of ‘Islam’ as a basis for nationhood has seriously impacted the development of the polity. Not only has the fact that the vast majority of Pakistanis are Muslim not kept the country together under the guise of the two-nation theory, in fact, the logic employed by the Muslim nationalist leaders in British India has been employed by many of the ethno-national movements that have emerged in Pakistan after its creation to demand an overhaul of the relationship between the Punjabi and Urdu-speaking dominated centre and the various underrepresented ethno-national communities spread out across the country. For a rigorous discussion of the national question in Pakistan, see Hamza Alavi’s writings.

PRM has supported the call of nationalist and progressive political circles in the country for an end to the colonial-style centralisation of power by the state and the attendant deprivation of national rights. In recent times, the struggle of the Baloch people has been a major concern to the military government of General Pervez Musharraf, and a low-intensity insurgency currently grips the province of Balochistan where the government is insistent on enforcing its obsolete, neo-colonial writ while imposing ‘mega development’ projects, cantonments and a draconian system of revenue extraction, focusing primarily on gas reserves in Dera Bugti and Kohlu. Under the guise of the Balochistan Solidarity Front (BSF), a broad based coalition of political activists, intellectuals and ordinary citizens, PRM has supported the democratic struggle of the Baloch people. The BSF has made a short documentary about the military operation and ongoing struggle in Balochistan which can be obtained for a nominal price by contacting PRM.

Militarisation of State and Society

The military in Pakistan remains the most powerful institution in the country, dominating state affairs (whether directly in power or operating behind the scenes) and increasingly encroaching into all spheres of social life. The military’s history as the country’s preeminent political force can be traced back to the threat perception of Indian expansionism (real or manufactured) in the immediate post-partition period. The Pakistani military was also a crucial element of the geo-strategic plans of US imperialism in the 1950s and early 1960s. Over time, persistent military influence has seriously compromised the political process and created a growing sense of alienation amongst the civilian population) See Eqbal Ahmad’s article on Pakistan’s praetorian crisis written in the late 1980s and Aasim Sajjad’s re-assertion of the problem more recently.

In recent years, the military’s autonomous corporate interests have come into the spotlight, and it is now clear that the military will never surrender political power as it needs power to protect the economic empire that it has built over the past few decades. Meanwhile military domination and its numerous foreign policy blunders have led to the influx of guns, drugs, sectarian conflict and the growing political and social influence of the religious right. However, unlike much of the liberal intelligentsia and elite that remain alienated from society at large, PRM does not see ‘religious extremism’ to be the biggest problem facing Pakistan today - it is instead a symptom of the systematic militarization of state and society over the course of five decades.

See PRM’s ‘celebration’ of seven years of the Musharraf dictatorship.

 What National Sovereignty?

In much the same way that the British Raj viewed the northwest of India as critical to the security of the British Empire, Pakistan has served the geo-strategic interests of imperialism, especially as the dependence of the westen world on the oil of the West Asia increases. While the relationship between the imperialist countries and Pakistan has been erratic, the consistent efforts of the state oligarchy to woo the former has resulted in a complete erosion of state sovereignty. This is manifest both in the fact that Pakistan has consistently supported imperialist wars but also over the last two decades in the adoption of unbridled neo-liberal economic policies that have deepened the integration of Pakistani society into the capitalist world economy.

The impact of international financial institutions (IFIs) on Pakistan has been immense. By championing of privatisation, financial austerity packages, and ‘development’ projects that are white elephants and have innumerable deleterious social and ecological effects, the IFIs have reinforced oligarchic power whilst reinforcing the rentier economic principles that suit the Pakistani elite and multinational capital ever so well. In recent times however, this swoop for natural resources and assets has been challenged by a growing number of struggles that PRM has supported. See for example PTCL strike.