Cultic Studies Review, Vol. 8, No. 3, 2009, Page 24
why this theory developed and how it contributed to the goal of creating a land for Muslims
independent of mainly Hindu India.
That the nation of Pakistan was created based on a religious identity, however, did
contribute to contemporary contradictions, ambiguities, and dangers, such as that:
• Some provinces that were made part of the new state had not previously supported
the Two Nation Theory.
• Those who supported and fought for the Pakistani State on the basis of religion were
secular men. They worked under the Muslim League political party banner because
doing so was useful in achieving their political goals.
• Islamists and many known scholars of Islam opposed the Two Nation Theory.
• Although the state was supposedly created for Muslims, there never was any
intention of making Pakistan an Islamic country.
Because Pakistan‘s founding raison d‟être was its religious identity, the new nation had its
roots in an ideological construction that had not considered the realities on the ground,
which created more problems, including the following:
• Insufficient attention was paid to the ethnic nationalism that is present in three of
the four provinces of Pakistan.
• The many differences of population, both vertical and horizontal, were ignored.
• The State pretended to be the bearer of progress, as it identified itself with Islam
while failing to advocate an official version of Islam.
• Because the State associated itself with Islam, however, going against the
government was tantamount to going against Islam.
• Consequently, dissent and freedom of speech and thought were restricted, and those
holding different views about the country were usually silenced or branded as
infidels. (It was not until 1997 that the Election Commission of Pakistan tried to limit
the verbal abuse that candidates heaped on each other, in particular the habit of
branding each other as infidels or traitors to Pakistan and/or Islam.)
• This attitude fed the sense of deprivation among those ethnic minorities or
communities that were told that their only source of identity should come from
Pakistaniyyat and Islam.
According to Pepe Rodriguez‘s (2000) analysis of Neil Smelser (1962), the sectarian genesis
arises in those environments where six elements dominate:
1. Structural conduciveness of the social system. The pretended homogeneity of
Muslims, as told by those of the Muslim League (ML), ran into reality. It ―started
loosing strength until it fed a proclivity within the subsystem that, finally,
strengthened the birth of new ‗sects‘ and inside them, the same shall occur…‖ thus
giving birth to more sectarian subgroups within the existing ones. The more the
government tried to homogenize the nation, the more sects came into existence.
2. Structural strain. In Pakistan, according to studies by Talbot (1992) and Robinson
(1997), this strain was inherited from the movement for independence: the
incapacity to adjust political and social dissent, the ambiguities of the Two-Nation
Theory, and the interests of the elites that do not coincide with those of the
population.
3. Generalized belief. Islam was used in a generic way, irrespective of the realities of
the Muslims who lived in the country. Islamic identity was built in opposition to
why this theory developed and how it contributed to the goal of creating a land for Muslims
independent of mainly Hindu India.
That the nation of Pakistan was created based on a religious identity, however, did
contribute to contemporary contradictions, ambiguities, and dangers, such as that:
• Some provinces that were made part of the new state had not previously supported
the Two Nation Theory.
• Those who supported and fought for the Pakistani State on the basis of religion were
secular men. They worked under the Muslim League political party banner because
doing so was useful in achieving their political goals.
• Islamists and many known scholars of Islam opposed the Two Nation Theory.
• Although the state was supposedly created for Muslims, there never was any
intention of making Pakistan an Islamic country.
Because Pakistan‘s founding raison d‟être was its religious identity, the new nation had its
roots in an ideological construction that had not considered the realities on the ground,
which created more problems, including the following:
• Insufficient attention was paid to the ethnic nationalism that is present in three of
the four provinces of Pakistan.
• The many differences of population, both vertical and horizontal, were ignored.
• The State pretended to be the bearer of progress, as it identified itself with Islam
while failing to advocate an official version of Islam.
• Because the State associated itself with Islam, however, going against the
government was tantamount to going against Islam.
• Consequently, dissent and freedom of speech and thought were restricted, and those
holding different views about the country were usually silenced or branded as
infidels. (It was not until 1997 that the Election Commission of Pakistan tried to limit
the verbal abuse that candidates heaped on each other, in particular the habit of
branding each other as infidels or traitors to Pakistan and/or Islam.)
• This attitude fed the sense of deprivation among those ethnic minorities or
communities that were told that their only source of identity should come from
Pakistaniyyat and Islam.
According to Pepe Rodriguez‘s (2000) analysis of Neil Smelser (1962), the sectarian genesis
arises in those environments where six elements dominate:
1. Structural conduciveness of the social system. The pretended homogeneity of
Muslims, as told by those of the Muslim League (ML), ran into reality. It ―started
loosing strength until it fed a proclivity within the subsystem that, finally,
strengthened the birth of new ‗sects‘ and inside them, the same shall occur…‖ thus
giving birth to more sectarian subgroups within the existing ones. The more the
government tried to homogenize the nation, the more sects came into existence.
2. Structural strain. In Pakistan, according to studies by Talbot (1992) and Robinson
(1997), this strain was inherited from the movement for independence: the
incapacity to adjust political and social dissent, the ambiguities of the Two-Nation
Theory, and the interests of the elites that do not coincide with those of the
population.
3. Generalized belief. Islam was used in a generic way, irrespective of the realities of
the Muslims who lived in the country. Islamic identity was built in opposition to
