PRE-MIDS ASSIGNMENT NO: 1

Islam and Politics in the Formative Phase of

Pakistan
The formative phase of Pakistan was from 1857-1948. The
formative phase concludes the strengths and weaknesses the
Muslims had to face during the separation. Religion is dealt
with literature also, its role in politics and resultant extremism
can mainly be classified into different categories. Some people
believes that religion is always violent, some says that only
Islam and not other religion holds that they are necessarily
violent and it offers better explanation concerning the link of
religion to radicalism and politics. Nonetheless, Islam, which is
in the focal point of the western condemnation for being the
religion of the radical or fundamentalists also faced with a
more formidable challenge of the difference between the
Islamic thought of traditionalism and modernism.

The war occurred between two completely different major

communities; Hindus and Muslims who fought two different
wars of freedom and salvation both had different views in their
minds. There were myriad problems for example; separation
between religion and politics, accurate interpretation of Quran,
human rights, women rights and the rights of the minorities.
The two-nation theory started becoming the crucial point
between these nations. And they both wanted the right of self-
determination. In 1940, Lahore Resolution occurred in which
Muslims decided to get a separate country from Hindus
because of different point of views. From 1940-1947, the real
struggle for independence begun, from Lahore Resolution to
the disclosure of Pakistan. The meaning of Pakistan is
explained in the spirit of the Quranic principles. Also Muslim
would be given an opportunity to shape themselves according
to the Quranic principles that are laid down in the Sharia. The
Islamic traditional ideology would be translated into
fundamental structure of a modern state. There are two types
of elites in the Pakistan movement; political and the other one
is religious. Both have different point of views for the
philosophy of the new state. The creation of Pakistan would be
completely different experimentation in Islamism due to the
religious elites after Islamic modernists did not find any
difference between Islam and democracy. Islamic society had
the perfect role model, the Holy Prophet and the Caliphs. The
people of Pakistan should follow the teachings of Islam and
needs to be molded into the perfect pattern. Religious leaders
used to think that after getting a separate homeland there will
be freedom to preach Islam and the value system will be
changed according to the Quranic principles after insisting. The
differences of two powerful elites were submerged to fight the
forces of the British colonialism and Hindu nationalism. The
partition of Pakistan was done, the least developed areas
became the part of Pakistan. The Pakistan movement was
successful in this manner. The policy making was made due to
the cultural and linguistic disparities among the inhabitants.

After the partition, people who were living in the West

Pakistan migrated to India and people who were living in
Pakistan were poor people they were not that rich. Because of
this reason there was a serious blow to the economic growth of
the new state. There were numerous problems after the
partition, a chronic source of stress in the body politics. Nation
building, security of Pakistan and Islamization were the critical
problems of the internal politics of Pakistan. The national
security was the main problem because the existence of the
state was depended on it.

In October 1947, the very first serious attack occurred on the

Pakistan’s territorial integrity. After accepting the Instrument
of Accession by India from Kashmir’s Maharaja, who decided to
join the Indian Union. Because of the bad relations between
two nations there was always a military threat from India in
the mind of those who made the Pakistan’s foreign policy.
Because of some other reasons Afghanistan also refused to
help Pakistan in any situation. Afghanistan was the only one
who casted a negative vote to Pakistan in 1947 when
Pakistan’s application came. While the friendship between
Russia and India started to grow so because of this the US
started to grow interest in Pakistan’s defence. Special military
treaty was also entered by these two countries. Threat of a
foreign attack started to reduce after this treaty.

Nation Building was also a critical problem. Pakistan was

emerged in the name of Islam but there were other problems
that were raised after the separation of Pakistan. For example
the disparity in customs, cultures, language and ethics. Only on
the base of as being different from others we demanded a
separate nation because of our disparities.

“We should begin to work in that spirit and in course of

time all these angularities of the majority and minority
communities will vanish.” (Quaid-e-Azam)

Between East and West Pakistan the chronic political and

economic hurdles were highlighted in the politics of the first
three decades of Pakistan’s existence. The differences due to
culture, language and economical views were exaggerated
because of the geographical difference between them. West
Pakistan was underdeveloped in the aspect of East Pakistan.
The literacy rate was also higher in the East. The relations
between these two were always under continuous stress due
to the geographical discrepancies.
Pakistan had been created in the name of Islam according to
the Islamic principles the constitution has been made. In 1948,
September, when the state came into existence the inspiring
leadership of Quaid-e-Azam was deprived. But after him
Pakistan became politically weak and it awakened the religious
of the country into realization that if they don’t follow the
Islamic principles there would be no meaning to demand a
separate nation from Hindus. Quaid-e-Azam did not live that
much after we got a separate nation from Hindus to precisely
indicate the Islamic contents of the Pakistan’s constitution.
Muslim League after his death became more vulnerable to the
attacks from the religious organizations.

A resolution was passed for demanding that the government

should create an office for a leading religious scholar of Shaikh
al-Islam on January 13, 1948. Another resolution also asked to
create the Ministry of Religious Affairs.

In the Islamization of Pakistan there were some difficulties and

one of them was that the religious leaders of the state were
never a part of the leadership in the Muslim League. Jamaat-e-
Islami became the most outspoken supporter of Islamic state
after the creation of Pakistan, they initially opposed the idea
for the Muslims of South Asia as a separate nation.

References:

https://www.idosi.org/mejsr/mejsr21(6)14/16.pdf

http://isdp.eu/content/uploads/publications/2008_cheema-et-al-
eds_political-role-of-religious-communities-in-pakistan.pdf