Nationhood and Nationalities in Pakistan
Pakistan is a country inhabited by people belonging to many different nationalities. Hamza Alavi’s article focuses on the rising sub-national demands in the country and how the dominant factions have tried their best to suppress these movements.
Official Nationalism:
Benedict Anderson describes official nationalism as “A national identity that is not spontaneously generated from below, but is imposed from above by those at the heart of the power structure in the country, in reaction to powerful sub-national movements.”
Despite the passing of more than half a century since the inception of Pakistan, we still remain a ‘country’ rather than a ‘nation’. It may not even be wrong to say that we are a collection of nations residing inside a country. Pakistan has become divided on the basis of ethnicity due to the long denial of provincial autonomy and due to the dominance of a particular ethnic group.
Reasons for Installation of ‘Official Nationalism’:
As soon as Pakistan came into being, demands of provincial autonomy began to surface. People belonging to the smaller provinces started to realize that the salariat (which constitutes the military and the bureaucracy) was dominated by Punjabis. Due to the fact that it makes up more than half the population of the country, it was obvious that it would dominate the civil service, military and politics. This led to the feeling of deprivation. People of Sindh, KPK, and Baluchistan felt that they were not being treated equally and nor were they being given equal opportunities. As a result the demands for greater provincial autonomy began to surface and it also triggered the sub-national movements. The privileged and dominating ethnic groups that held key positions in military, bureaucracy and government, saw this as a threat to their control and dominance, because increase in
Nationalism has been a potent force for change since the development of human civilization. However, opinion about the extent to which nationalism may be appropriately pursued is highly diverse, a factor that has led to immense tragedy and suffering in countless regions worldwide. While it is both appropriate and sometimes encouraged to take pride in being part of a nation, it is of the utmost importance that it is done without harming or subjugating people of another. Uniting a people by force and potentially eliminating or destroying those who may oppose it or not belong to it is unacceptable ethically, morally, and socially.
Throughout the years, humans have constructed many unique civilizations; all which follow a distinct social, economic, and political structure. Even so, there is one characteristic that prevails among these societies, the concept of nationalism. In short, nationalism refers to the feelings people have when identifying with their nation. This simple notion possesses the ability to divide or unite collective groups, and has played an important role in many historical events.
All over the world and in history, countries and nations have expressed pride towards their nations through spirit and have unified together as one. Nationalism is the force behind the unification, strength, and cooperation of these nations. First, nationalism is a powerful force that helps to unite all different people into a single nation. It is also important for nations to use nationalism to claim justified independence from one another. Finally, nationalism can be taken too far if it is used unjustly or incorrectly. Nationalism is important and necessary for beneficial political changes, but can become harmful and unproductive when used for a country’s personal agenda and lust for power.
A simple definition of nationalism is an “extreme feeling of patriotism in which a country believes to hold a degree of superiority over other countries”. In an ideal world, superiority and inferiority are terms that shouldn’t exist and every country should hold a mutual equal status. Unfortunately however, we do not live in such an idealized world and so for some countries to be ahead of others in economic, political and socio fields is apparent. Initially, the idea of superiority has negative connotations, however with regards to nationalism, this is not always the case and as proven throughout history, nationalism has helped achieve positive outcomes.
Nationalism at its core is the support of a country. The goal of a country is to have some sort of resonance within the individuals that reside there that call themselves citizens. If the citizens don’t feel any connection with their country, they may move to find one that they feel closer too. Once found, they may support the country over others, defend it within conversations of politics or just find groups that have the same ideals they do about the country. This papers purpose is to illustrate the pros of nationalism as well as its cons.
In Pakistan, people are stricken with poverty, the economy is unstable, and there are no opportunities to fulfill one’s goals. The U.S. economy is abundant and ripe with jobs. The only attribute is that one has to go out and want a job. Pakistan is more of a follower than a leader. It essentially adopts America’s ideals, but does not attain them. The poverty and unemployment rates are increasing daily. In many cases, one person works in the family and rest of the individuals sit back and play cricket or watch movies all day long. There is no hope of becoming a self-made person. The system is backwards and I think it requires a change. In contrast, living in Ameri...
These horrors caused by nationalism seem to be at the opposite end of the spectrum from the promising ideal of democracy. As Ghia Nodia pointed out, many analysts view nationalism as “fundamentally antidemocratic” (3). What these anti-nationalists fail to realize is that nationalism has also called force heroism and even sacrifice throughout history. Numerous people have risked their lives to restore democracy and civil rights in their nations, when they could easily have chosen comfortable exile elsewhere. Indeed, nationalism is the very basis of democratic government because it unites the citizens as “we the people”, supports the common political destiny, and nurtures trust toward the government.
Nationalism is the idea that a people who have much in common, such as language, culture and geographic proximity ought to organize in such a way that it creates a stable and enduring state. Nationalism is tied to patriotism, and it is the driving force behind the identity of a culture. Nationalism had many effects in Europe from 1815, The Congress of Vienna and beyond. In the following essay I will describe many of the consequences of nationalism on European identity, as well as some of the conflicts that it created.
... what about their identity, they do not have any identity because of having limited rights and role in the Pakistani society.
Nationalism can take on many different forms such as racial nationalism and imperialism. It is easy to see this by looking at the definition of nationalism that George Orwell gives and compromising it to document wrote about racial nationalism and imperialism. George Orwell’s definition of nationalism can be applied to not just these document or points in history but many other points in history as well because it is so broad and unspecific to a certain time or place. In George Orwell’s Notes on Nationalism, he defined nationalism as identifying with a single nation or group, whom has a desire of power to further the nation or group, and view their nation or group above the moral standard .
During the Cold War, many regional conflicts occurred and were noted as the significant battles which later led to decolonization. One of the regional conflicts were India and Pakistan fighting for their independence. In 1947, India was released under Great Britain’s control and gained its independence. However, the country was divided between Muslims and Hindus, which share different religions. Muslims wanted church and state to become unified while Hindus wanted a separation of these two establishments. Since these two ethnic groups disagreed, it was difficult to create a new government. Therefore, India was divided into two nations: India for the Hindus and Pakistan for the Muslims. Hindus and Muslims were racing to the border in order to get to their nation state which led to killing 500,000 people due to rioting. Although, Mohandas Gandhi, an Indian National Congressman, wanted to obtain peace between these two religions. Pakistan refused the H...
After partition, Pakistan, an independent state came into being in 1947 and inherited a colonial university system, created by the British. The fundamental features of this system during that era were that it was under-financed, bureaucratic, and mediocre and was teaching rather than research oriented.
“The existing nationalism literature is a conceptual labyrinth characterized by questionable instruments, lack of empirical data, and poor explanatory power”
Choudhry, Dr. Shabir. “Human Security and Protection of Rights of Kashmiri People under Pakistani Administration.” Counterurrents.org. N.p., 18 Mar. 2011. Web. 15 May 2011. .
Abstract: The present paper tried to explore Khushwant Singh’s views on effect of partition and role of multicultural set up in India. India is known for its cultural diversity in the world map and maintaining unity. There are hundreds together caste, creed, belief and traditions being observed by the people of India. Many Indian and foreign writers depicted cultural diversity and conflict between two major religions in their writings and Khushwant Singh is also one among them who depicted difference of opinion between Hindu and Muslims in India. Being a multi cultured nation India is literally enjoying a status which is maintaining unity. Gate opines as, “Multiculturalism