Description

National identity remains a very serious issue in Pakistan today. There has never been a clear answer to the question of how many nations live within the country—one or more.

The constitutional process, accompanied by tensions in communal relations, bears witness to serious ideological differences in society over the role religion should play in social and political life.

Pakistan’s Islamization, through giving traditional Muslim standards legal force, has not been completed, but many traditional standards have now been written into law and have thus become an integral part of the country’s political and legal system.

Solutions to Pakistan’s problems should be based on comprehensive approaches that avoid experiments with Islam—one of the foundations of Pakistan’s statehood—and emphasize administrative, social, economic, and security issues.