Why Has Nationality Failed To Prevail Over Ethnicity In Pakistan after more than 50 years and counting...
WHY HAS NATIONALITY FAILED TO PREVAIL OVER ETHNICITY IN PAKISTAN AFTER MORE THAN 50 YEARS AND COUNTING….
Ethnicity is based on language, culture and religion, among other things. Pakistan, like other post-colonial states is multi-ethnic, and herein lays the failure of our leaders, who were unable to realize this basic fact.
The Muslim League even during its heydays was never an organization .Rather the sole reason for its phenomenal success was mass popular support. The Pakistan movement though led by secular, liberal educated middle classes primarily drew its mass support on the basis of an Islamic communitarian tradition. After partition, save for a brief period which ended with the tragic assassination of Liaquat Ali Khan, Pakistan has failed to produce a leader capable of joining the various ethnic groups residing within its boundaries. A commonly held distinction between an ethnic and a nationalist movement is that while an ethnic politician tries to gain some advantage within an existing state, a nationalist seeks to establish or maintain his own state. In the case of Pakistan, more often than not, the ethnic politicians have held sway.
