Govt and Politics Pakistan

A. Military Rule

Three-fourths of Pakistan’s life as an independent nation has been spent under military rule. Common Explanations re Military Rule in Pakistan:

 

  1. Diversity (linguistic and ethnic) have caused regional tensions and successive failures in forming a Constitution.
  2. Pakistan has been burdened with full-scale wars with India, a strategically exposed northwestern frontier, and a series of economic crises.
  3. It has difficulty in allocating economic and natural resources equitably.
  4. It has faced the dilemma of reconciling the goal of national integration with the imperatives of national security.

 

But these problems are not unique to Pakistan – all countries in South Asia face these to a greater or lesser extent.

 

Two failures account for the lack of democracy:

 

  1. ideological  ŕ what shd be the basis of Pakistani state?

& ŕ lack of a pro-Pakistan (positive) identity/model of politics

  1. institutional ŕ absence of national political parties

& ŕ their opportunism (using bureaucracy & military to crush political opposition; focus on making money for themselves)

 

B. Islamic Parties

The influence of Islamic parties in Pakistani politics and government not correlate to their electoral strength

 

  1. Few Pakistanis support a theocratic state
  2. Islamist parties have no economic agenda
  3. Islamist parties divided and have small, mostly regional/ethnic support bases.
  4. After Zia introduced Shariat Laws, in-fighting among Islamists re which version of Islamic law is truly Islamic? ŕ sectarian violence
  5. Islamists aligned with military rulers, hence not popular with other political parties ŕ no popular support in democratic elections
  6. Attempts at unity (into Islami Jamoori Ittehad) => loss of identiy as well as charges of corruption.
  7. Rise of militant islamist factions ŕ more violence and more popular alienation
  8. End of the Afghan War in 1989 ŕ no clear purpose/enemy ŕ focus on Kashmir and inspiration/guidance from Taleban.

 

Factors that have helped to bolster their growing role in Pakistan?

 

 

C. Madrassas

Pakistani state has been unable to provide for mass education, either due to lack of resources or the lack of political will. Religion-based schools (madrassas) fulfill this need.

-          Problem of narrow curriculum (good or bad?)

-          Pakistan govt has been provided with massive economic aid to “secularize” the madrassas. (how?)

-          Problems of interference in religious schools