Contending Identities of Pakistan and the Issue of Democratic Governance

http://himalaya.socanth.cam.ac.uk/collections/journals/pdsa/pdf/pdsa_02_01_03.pdf

A democratic progressive Pakistan is tied with a Pakistani identity based on the facts of plurality of its being. And conversely, a centrist militarist Pakistan as it must always rely on the religious argument will continue to give in to the rise of religious extremism in society and state. The main argument of the present article is that there is a direct connection and overlapping of interests between democratic governance and ethnic based plural identity in Pakistan. Further the religious based identity is fed by and feeds the conflict with India, contributing in a substantial manner to the military dominance; conversely the ethnic national movements by conflicting with the centrist state upheld by the military are part of the regional peace movement.