How did Pakistan Muslim Country come to existence?
‘In Pakistan, religion has played a more important role in the legitimating process than in most countries because Pakistan Muslim Country came into existence lacking the traditional characteristics of a state i.e., a common ethnic, linguistic, or territorial identification’.
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| Pakistan Muslim Country |
Indian Muslims, from different regions and different motivations united under the banner of Islam to seek independence from the Hindu majority (Wilder, 1995).
Although the Muslims of India, lacked the necessary characteristics to formulate a state, but Islam created feelings of Islamic nationalism amongst the Muslims of subcontinent, before partition.
It is often said that Islam is in itself a sort of nationalism, in which Umma Muhammdia (The Muslim community) occupies the place of the nation.
During Muslim rule in India, to secure them from Hindu domination, Muslims had to evolve two-nationt theory.
Theory, in the presence of British, in India as rulers, Muslims suffered from economic backwardness and were a apologetical about their cultural and historical legacy. In this situation Islam appeared as an umbrella for Muslims to safeguard themselves.
In 20"I century, Western ideas of democracy started to flourish in India, as a majority community.
Hindus began to dream of an Indian nation. By then, however, it was too late, for the Muslims too had awakened to their plight.
In consequence when national regeneration finally came to India, it produced two nationalism instead of one (Aziz, 1989).
There were other factors as well which gave direction to the Islamic nationalism i-e, increasing Hinduization of the All India
National Congress (AINC).
Although both Muslim and Hindu
communities were trying to build their own nationalism, before the start of British rule in India.
After their arrival, the Muslims
response to British imperialism was generally negative and that of many Hindus was positive, and this single fact is the dominant feature of the entire development of two rival nationalisms in
India (Binder, 1963).
During the British rule, these two rival nationalisms came closer to each other to attain their respective goals and resulted in
Lucknow Pact, Khilafat movement etc.
Khilafat movement changed the entire mode of politics of Indian subcontinent as nothing illustrates the play of religious feeling in politics better than the short-lived fervent Indian Khilafat movement (Aziz, 1989).
It was religion which determined the course of movementb rought modernists and extremists under the same fold.
Religion was the reason d'etre of the Khilafat movement, and this had one important result for the subsequent growth of Muslim nationalism (Aziz, 1989).
