Can Pakistan survive identity politics?

The world has passed through several questions that it tries to answer before shaping its institutional structures and processes. The central question until the last decade of the 20th century was that of the economy, which gave rise to capitalist or planned economies. This distinction of economic systems then aligned states along the type of economies they had adopted. The question of economy however has not lost its context, but events in the 21st century have posed a new question which is the forcing nations all over the world to recognize who they really are.

This is related to the politics of identity. Although identity politics h as always been part of politics, which has now become one of the most powerful forces in contemporary international politics. Identity politics describes the way people adopt political and legal positions that might be based on ethnicity, race, gender, religion, social background, class or any other identifying factor, but in the Third World countries, identity politics is mainly underpinned by religion or nationalism.

Though the phenomenon started on the left in the 1970s, it has now been driven by the right, which can be witnessed in the Western world where countries for the last decade had been moving towards protectionism to protect their identity, especially in the case of former US President Donald Trump who used to say that I am a global citizen, but of course America comes first, and the issue of Brexit where Britain opted for independent trade policies and even in Third World countries such as India. If the Western nations protected the liberal norms and values as the main components of their identity, it would be easy for them to unite themselves based on a broad identity. So, until or unless the slogans in the form of gender, race or religion which are now on the rise, do not supersede liberal values, identity politics may be counted as a blessing for the West. This politics of identity has not limited itself to the Western democracies but is now also taking hold in the Third World countries with a different outlook though.

The idea here is that Pakistan is a multilingual state, and it does not have an identity in the age of identity politics that could unite the Pakistanis, as the West has done through its liberal norms. If Pakistan has to survive the identity politics, it must work upon an identity that is not so religious as people are divided on sectarian lines and the state cannot decide upon a single school of thought, not affiliated with a certain ethnic group in majority, not so secular because that would burden the religious groups, but it should be an identity that is inclusive and should provide equal representation for all religious, ethnic, and political groups

In a country like Pakistan identity politics is problematic in the sense that the state is lacking a collective identity. One can hardly see any state in this world, which is not multiethnic. So, Pakistan is no exception. Although Pakistani ruling elites have always associated themselves with an Islamic identity that comes from the independence of Pakistan based on the Two-Nation Theory. But the state has always witnessed on the one hand a clash of faith and secularism, where the state on several occasions has used the Islamic identity, whereas the secularist forces that were part of the power structure and were in good relations with the Western powers were not only reluctant about the Islamic identity but had clearly maintained that Pakistan is a democratic country, and that Political Islam has no position in the state affairs.

This concept of an Islamic identity was further deteriorated when the state got in trouble with ethnic groups such as the Baloch people and the Bengali nationalists. On the other hand, especially in the current situation, the state has been witnessing a clash of faith and ethnicity. This is mainly based on the idea that people have given away their state’s Islamic identity and now are associating themselves with their ethnic identity. Conflict based on ethnicity in Pakistan is not a new phenomenon to be looked upon, but has existed in Pakistan in the very beginning phases of independence in Baluchistan in 1947, continued up till this day, and then, in the case of East Pakistan, led to separation in 1971. This somehow proved that ethnic groups are not safe in the type of constitutional and power structure, or at least the deliberate actions, Pakistan has.

As soon as the current Prime Minister of Pakistan Imran Khan took office in 2018, he manipulated the argument and talked about a state where state affairs would be conducted according to Islam.  A trend of using religion got a boost in framing situations and in identifying its enemies, especially India. Thus, Pakistanis once again were to be bound by an Islamic identity. But with the rise of Nationalist movements such as the Pashtun Tahaffuz Movement in the tribal areas and in parts of Baluchistan as a result of extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearances done by the state agencies, and protests against blasphemous acts where state could not favor the religious groups the hopes of Islamic identity were killed. The waves of protests made by ethnic groups, particularly by the Pashtuns, against the state for misuse of power, is a problem that cannot be ignored.

The groups involved in such protests not only criticized state policies, but continuously identified themselves as Afghans, despite holding the citizenship of Pakistan. This has been witnessed in various demonstrations made by the Pashtun Tahaffuz Movement. More recently, just two days ago Usman Kakar, a member of a Nationalist party and a senator of Pakistan, who was murdered in his home, which gave the nationalist groups another threat and opportunity at the same time to unite, but this time Baloch people too joined hands with the Pashtun people wholeheartedly. The state was Blamed for the killing of Usman Kakar. Again, the crowds raised slogans that showed their criticism of the state and more surprisingly during the funeral the flag of Afghanistan was raised on the grave of the Senator.

The idea here is that Pakistan is a multilingual state, and it does not have an identity in the age of identity politics that could unite the Pakistanis, as the West has done through its liberal norms. If Pakistan has to survive the identity politics, it must work upon an identity that is not so religious as people are divided on sectarian lines and the state cannot decide upon a single school of thought, not affiliated with a certain ethnic group in majority, not so secular because that would burden the religious groups, but it should be an identity that is inclusive and should provide equal representation for all religious, ethnic, and political groups.

This could be made possible by convincing all the groups, if possible, to compromise on certain aspects of their identity. Otherwise, the state might go through some very disturbing phases of sectarian and ethnic conflicts and ultimately divisions.