Discourses of Nationalism and Pakistaniyat: Challenges of Othering for Religious Minorities in Pakistan

Abstract

Nationalism creates a sense of belonging among individuals and groups through asserting the similarities and construction of a larger identity. The constructed identity also forms a set of obligations for the people and groups to integrate a designed behavior to recurrently validate their sense of belonging with the respective groups, tribe or state etc. The state discourse and policies often regularize certain acts, gestures, beliefs as a part of assertion of nationalism in an attempt to preserve the identity of the state. In authoritarian state due to lack of democratic traditions and practices, once the core belief of nationalism is established, these are hardly debated, challenged or discussed. Religious nationalism generates an unyielding form of authority while requiring people to submit without any space for social, political, and religious dissent. Pakistan nevertheless is federal democracy, conceived as an independent state on the basis of its religious identity. The nationalism in Pakistan is perceived as 'Pakistaniyat' however over the years this idea at least through state discourse has remained subjected to Islamization of state and society with variant intensity while creating categories of citizens. The study focus on how the idea of nationalism has evolved in Pakistan before and after independence. This paper also explicates that how over the period of time, the notion of Pakistaniyat has furnished? This research also explains that what Pakistaniyat means in real essence and how it is interpreted?  Additional, how the religious minorities and their relationship with state and society are affected by these ideas of Pakistani nationalism? does Pakistaniyat provokes strong religious othering and politics of exclusion of religious minorities in Pakistan? This research is primarily exploratory in nature and concludes that religious nationalism is outdated and cannot help in the process of integration and harmony. There is a need to encourage intellectual debate to explore what may legitimately constitute Pakistaniyat.