The Proliferation of Religion in Pakistan

Pakistan was established in the name of religion by the leaders of that time. Although they didn’t wish to use the name of religion as for personal interest or for the monopoly of some groups. Religion was used in history of Pakistan by different groups to gain power. In the era of Zia ulHaq religion become the most influential factor in the politics of Pakistan. Zia used religion to sustain his own power, the religious parties fully supported the reforms in every sector which gave religion as tool for politics.  The era of Zia ulHaq consider as mullah- military alliance. This alliance was formed to empower the right wing religious parties within the country. The changing politics of external environment gave further straighten to this alliance. The invasion in Afghanistan and expansion of communism threatened Pakistan’s security. Pakistansupported the Afghan resistance as proxy war with Soviet Union. This time was the massive proliferation of religion to motivate the young people to fight against the aggressive forces in neighboring Muslim country. The process of islamization took deep roots due to the Zia’s policies in the country.

Zia followed Jamat-i-islami version of Islam and combined religion with politics to prolong his rule and to justify his policy actions. With the diversified civil society this action created many setbacks for the country. On the other side, progressive liberal parties stand in the corner due to powerless and helpless. The reforms took in educational sector based on religion, the one section of society go more radicalized. Historically, the roots cause of Islamization and secularization have been originated with the concept of Pakistan. There were no genuine efforts towards the state apparatus early. The adoption of extremist ideology by some groups has badly affected the image of Pakistan and political structure. Though, modernists of Muslim League have the strong recognition that religion has the important element for their legitimacy. Modernists said that western democracy under the British model which was not ready to bring change in their political realm. The modernists believed that current interpretations of law would be responsible of the elected Muslim members through the concept of consensus. They said that it is not necessary to bind the state structure with Islamic medieval laws. The consensus was thought as sufficient for Pakistan todram the structural mechanism according to the Islamic laws. On the other hand, the religious fundamentalists were not satisfied with the proposed structure. 

The development within the political structure of Pakistan has been followed by the coming administration in 90s. After the collapse of USSR the behavior of USA towards Pakistan has changed.  The idea of New World Order has emerged suddenly and the international scenario changed. Pakistan had to needed with positive approach to run a new direction but the country remained under the occupation of traditional power politics between power center groups. The state was under the influence of religious parties and these groups have become stronger in the ground. During the process of Islamization simple demand to implement the Sharia laws in Pakistan. In this development the religious segment of the society was become strong and the intellectual society groups were totally missing. Now these groups are openly use the name of Islam for their own means and interest. The religious right wing groups only use the name of religion to gain support from the people. But they lost the actual power support of masses. Religion was used for the domestic and political objectives and also religion was a dominating factor in foreign policy. The new era of relations reestablished with Islamic world. Due to such new developments regional and global level attracted towards the country. The counter forces and thinking patterns all had affected by these new developments in the country. Though, these movements got not support globally, but they succeeded in farming the image of Islam throughout the world. In short extremism can never be a choice of common people and they are living within the diversified cultural and religious differences. 

After the 9/11 Pakistan has no choice to support the new global alliances against the Taliban and Al-Qaeda groups. Pakistan was forced to take action against the former Jihadi elements within the territories. Pakistan has started actions against these groups under the new US pressure and become the front line state in the war on terror. The domestic militant groups were mostly operating within the tribal region. They were become the most challenging factor for the security of Pakistan. Most of them were the products of local madrassahs, they has strong linkages with the criminals and other militants groups. Pakistan has faced many problems to distinguish between them. Islamic groups and militancy has deeply affected the domestic model of political structure of the country. Early religious scholars have the great contribution of ideas towards the development of the society. They reached an effective structural mechanism for the state. They were remained vocal but not extremist in their ideas and neither had they inclined towards militancy. The madrasahs in all over the Pakistan in beginning they were not inclining towards militancy. They have strong relations with the institutions of Pakistan. But the element of militancy started during Afghan war it gave them an opportunity to use the force to achieve their goals and objectives.  These groups and militants organizations have been used by the warlords. They are controlling and utilizing them for their own political objectives

Pakistan has adopted many policies to counter these militant groups and their activities. The most important step taken by the government was “Reforming the Madrasahs”. In June 2002 this Regulation Act was formulated. Mostly madrssahs are not run by the government they are working independent through other means of financial resources. Some changes were proposed in educational syllabus but this was not handled properly

Ali Abbas
Ali Abbas
Ali Abbas, Ph.D. candidate at the School of Politics and International Studies, Central China Normal University Wuhan, PR China