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Research Article – Unity in diversity: constituting and

constructing Pakistan’s national identity
By: Farhan Hanif Siddiqi
Published: 31 January 2023
Topics: Islam (https://www.commonwealthroundtable.co.uk/tag/islam/), Mohammad Ali Jinnah
(https://www.commonwealthroundtable.co.uk/tag/mohammad-ali-jinnah/), Muslim
(https://www.commonwealthroundtable.co.uk/tag/muslim/), Muslim self-realisation
(https://www.commonwealthroundtable.co.uk/tag/muslim-self-realisation/), national identity
(https://www.commonwealthroundtable.co.uk/tag/national-identity/), Pakistan
(https://www.commonwealthroundtable.co.uk/tag/pakistan/), Urdu
(https://www.commonwealthroundtable.co.uk/tag/urdu/)

[This article
(https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/0035853
3.2022.2149118) is from a special edition of The
Round Table: The Commonwealth Journal of
International Affairs looking at Pakistan at 75.
(https://www.tandfonline.com/toc/ctrt20/111/6)]

What, who is a Pakistani?

Street scene in downtown market, Lahore, Pakistan. [photo
contributor: Roberto Cornacchia / Alamy Stock Photo]
What does ‘Pakistani’ mean? According to Akbar S. Ahmed
(1997, p. 188), the ideological confusion miring Pakistan’s
national identity and its failure to invoke a cohesive national identity construction in the spirit of mutual tol-
erance lies at the core of ethnic and religious violence in the country. The ideological confusion stems
primarily from the failure of the Muslim League to define whether Pakistan was to be a secular or religious
polity (Staniland, 2021), although the early leadership was clear in weaning Pakistan away from a theo-
cratic form of government, as the Constituent Assembly debates cited above make clear. Despite the ideo-
logical confusion, a seminal consensus existed on the unitarian nature of the Pakistani national identity
project, rooted in a rhetorical allusion to Islam and the Urdu language (Akhtar, 2018, p. 119). This was in-
tended and needed because the greatest threat to the unity of Pakistan was felt in the dangers of ethno-
linguistic mobilisation (Staniland, 2021).
Special edition:WePakistan atimprove
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Research Article – The rocky road to modernity: an assessment of Pakistan’s 75 years
Policy (/cookies). By closing this message, you are consenting to our use of
(https://www.commonwealthroundtable.co.uk/commonwealth/eurasia/pakistan/research-
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article-the-rocky-road-to-modernity-an-assessment-of-pakistans-75-years/)
Opinion – Pakistan at 75: a mixed record
(https://www.commonwealthroundtable.co.uk/commonwealth/eurasia/pakistan/opinion-
pakistan-at-75-a-mixed-record/)

In catering for a unitary national identity project, Pakistan was not expressing a unique form of politics. In
fact, the invocation of commonalities and oneness lies at the core of both the Western ‘civic’ and non-
Western ‘ethnic’ conceptions of identity (Smith, 1991). According to Brubaker (1999), the Western ‘civic’
nationalist project also contains appeals to ethnic, cultural and descent claims, as well as impatience with
ethnic difference. Even the French civic-territorial type tends towards radical assimilation which is intoler-
ant of cultural differences and minorities which some refer to as ‘ethnocide’ (Smith, 1998, p. 212). No won-
der then that the unitarian national identity project in the Western world is now impacted by the desire for
independence as witnessed in Scotland, New Caledonia and Catalonia (Pattie & Johnson, 2017;
Serrano, 2013).

In this section, I want to reiterate that the key task in broaching the meaning of the Pakistani identity is to
pay attention to its normative content, specifically, diversity-acceptance. This is attempted by focusing on
two key identity indicators that inform the foundational episteme of the Pakistani citizen/person: religion
and language. It is through religion and language that nations produce traditional/historical imaginaries of
the nation for purposes of social reproduction of identity as well as its relevant boundaries
(Anderson, 1983). This reproduction or social engineering and the pursuit of a totalising, unitary identity
from the top creates a performative tension given the societal heterogeneity down below. This exudes the
following questions: If the meaning of Pakistani is associated with the Muslim identity then what about
non-Muslims in the country? Are they not Pakistanis? How does Pakistani national identity achieve susten-
ance when the national language, Urdu, is the first language of only a minority of people in the country?
Why invoke commonalities when identity and culture are usually hybrid and ambivalent in nature?
(Bhabha, 1994). I will attempt at making this clear by alluding to a fictional Pakistani citizen, M.

Introduction to special edition – Pakistan at 75

(https://www.commonwealthroundtable.co.uk/commonwealth/eurasia/pakistan/introduction-
pakistan-at-75-five-permanent-crises/)
India at 75 – July 2022 special edition (https://www.tandfonline.com/toc/ctrt20/111/3)

M is an individual who holds a Pakistani identity. Being a Pakistani, living in Pakistan, possessing a
Pakistani identity card privileges M, for the citizenship makes her liable to engage in educational and pro-
fessional pursuits, as opposed to say, a refugee whose citizenship status is uncertain. However, M’s
Pakistani citizenship ascookies
We use a privilege may
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a site of patriarchy and male dominance may be at odds with (male) Pakistani citizens exposing tensions
cookies.
in her identity affiliations as Pakistani and female. Moreover, M is also constitutive of an ethnic identity –

Punjabi, Sindhi, Baloch, Pashtun, Mohajir, Siraiki, Hazarawal, Gilgiti, Balti etc. Let’s say, M is a Baloch and
experiences discrimination and neglect of her ethnic group. In this sense, M’s national identity (Pakistani)
remains insufficient and it is the ethnic minority status that encapsulates her worldview invoking fissures
between her national and ethnic identity. M also possesses a professional identity. In this case, she could
be a professor, researcher, doctor, lawyer, student, banker etc. The professional identity is an individual
trait deriving from the pursuit of specific educational and intellectual goals, where national and ethnic iden-
tity may be less salient. M works in an office space where her promotion to a higher position might not be
linked with her identity status but her professional competence and diligence. Similarly, M also possesses
a role identity that flows from social relations including wife/mother/daughter/friend etc in which ethnic, reli-
gious or national loyalties retain less potency. M is a Sunni Muslim but has Shia Muslim as friend(s), is a
Baloch but her social circle includes non-Baloch. These interactions are devoid of identity constraints be-
cause personal traits and mannerisms might be a decisive factor in determining M’s social circle. M could
be motivated to befriend or marry someone because of their intelligence and intellect or sense of humour
or kindness, all instances in which national, ethnic and religious identities might be less salient.

The multiple identities that M holds and how they come into play are also dependent on the context. For
example, if M is travelling outside Pakistan, her engagement with immigration authorities and foreigners
will likely result in the evocation of the national (Pakistani) identity as opposed to ethnic identity. However,
if M is operating within Pakistan, people are most likely to know about her ethnic identity for the national
identity is taken as assumed and given.

Farhan Hanif Siddiqi is Associate Professor, School of Politics and International Relations, Quaid-i-
Azam University, Islamabad, Pakistan.

Visit The Round Table journal on Taylor & Francis Online to read this article in full
(https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00358533.2022.2149118).

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