Two half-baked thoughts on politics and Pakistan.

Well they're barely quarter-baked but I'm in no mood to make up words tonight. Actually I'm probably assembling ingredients to make something that will be baked - that's how unbaked all of this is.

Two stories caught my attention in today's (July 18, 2007) online issue of the Pakistani newspaper DAWN.

1. I wonder how Benazir can make statements about the lack of law and order under Musharraf's regime when things were equally bad on her watch -- both times round. Well I guess she can make these statements but in good conscience? Really? Well some of us might quibble over the comparison I'm making here but you get my drift....in neither of these instances is the law and order situation unproblematic.

2. I agree with Musharraf's statement about his goal to create an enlightened and moderate Pakistan. What it makes me think about though is the vision of 'Pakistan' that 'Pakistanis' have had and continue to. Without going into too much detail (only because I can't handle writing blog posts akin to academic papers or dissertation chapters right now), I'm intrigued by the ways in which 'Pakistaniat' has been articulated. To grossly oversimplify for a second, the two-nation theory which laid the foundation for the demand for Pakistan as a separate state for the Muslims of India seems to have been deployed in Pakistan in two main ways that are also, IMHO, relevant to what Musharraf had to say. First, based on my own field research for my dissertation as well as primary sources I've read, there seems to be a strong contingent of folks who insist that the notion "separate state for the Muslims" refers to having a homeland where Muslims held the reins of power thereby escaping the possibility of Hindu domination in a United India after gaining independence from the British Empire. The second strand of thought insists upon the enforcement of Sharia Law in Pakistan for it to become a truly Islamic state. It always strikes me as odd that this demand is often made by political parties that historically, in the pre-1947 era, were opposed to the very establishment of a separate state for the Muslims of India. Leaving that aside, it is also striking that there are folks who belong to this contingent agree that this wasn't how Pakistan was envisioned but that it is what it ought to have been established on the basis of i.e. a state fashioned according to Islamic ideals ala Saudi Arabia. Hmm I wonder how we might make sense of this given that one rests on interpreting Pakistaniat/Pakistan as a 'Muslim homeland' and the other as an 'Islamic state'? Are the two different? I'm clearly inclined towards saying yes. Personally speaking, most immigrants and partition survivors I have spoken with over the years often talk about Pakistan as the solution to escape domination by the Hindus...or at least that was the intent. Makes sense to me. After all, Muslims in India practice their religion too so it couldn't have been just the desire to set up an Islamic state. This is not to say that didn't become a part of it but I find it increasingly bizarre, even problematic, that the first strand of thought is largely overlooked or deemed taboo when it is articulated. Hmm I see a research project forming right here.

On that note, must go to sleep! Next post: tomorrow's (well technically today since it's 12:34 am) dissertation thought or the day's favorite sentence. Which shall it be? Stay tuned to find out :-).