Islam as a Political Ideology, Utilized for the Foundation, Consolidation and Fragmentation of Pakistan

This article explores the sources of civil strife in Pakistan. It addresses the ongoing theoretical debate on the sources of violent strife, which distinguishes between material and perceptual causes of conflict and places sub-national identities within the context of political and socioeconomic circumstances. The article uses the BFRS Dataset of Political Violence in Pakistan to examine a wide array of deadly incidents from 1988 to 2011. It argues that among the various causes of the continuing conflict, the most prevailing source lies in the role assigned to Islam in Pakistan's political ideology. In searching for an inclusive nationalism to unite micro identities loosely knitted together within the nation, Pakistan's elites have drawn on Islam, which had been utilised as the founding logic of the state. In doing so, they have persistently promoted a message of Islamism that has now become the major source of internal strife.