Exclusivist Ethno-Nationalism and the Future of Federalism in Pakistan

Abstract

Pakistan is an ethnically diverse country with multiple ethno-nationalist communities living in different constituent units where geographical boundaries are not congruent with the ethnic identities. The heterogeneous and diverse nature of Pakistan’s population, since independence, has served as an impediment to the ‘cause of nation building’ or a single ‘Pakistani National Identity instead of providing strength to the state apparatuses,’ The ‘exclusivity’ of these subnational or ethnic groups has resulted in the non-permeability, and consequently, created hindrances for these groups to co-opt with each other in order to emerge as one single and coherent identity. Different sub-national groups reside in all provinces of Pakistan which include Pashtuns and Baloch in Baluchistan , amongst others, Muhajirs and Sindhis, primarily, both reside in the Sindh province, Punjab has both Punjabi and Saraiki communities, amongst others and Pashtuns and Kohistani Hazaras (not to be confused with the distinct ethnic Hazara tribe of Baluchistan and Afghanistan) , reside in KP. All these sub-national/ethnic groups consider themselves distinct from the other groups, on many different grounds, and have resisted integration into each other to form one national identity as a Pakistani. The densely populated province of Punjab, which at the time of inception of the country was the second biggest province, started dominating the civil and military decision/policy making circles in the nascent phase of post partition state development, subjugating and alienating the majority province of East Pakistan leading to its ultimate secession. This historically imbalanced federal setup resulted in the aggravation of the grievances of smaller constituent units as well, and strengthened their demands for provincial autonomy giving rise to ethno-nationalist and separatist movements in the provinces of Baluchistan, KP, Sindh. The people’s representative’s s responded to these demands of provincial autonomy by amending the constitution in 2010 and attempted to improve its federal credentials. The aim of this paper will be to highlight the future prospects for federalism in Pakistan by looking at how the political system is trying to cope with the diverse society of Pakistan and the foremost challenges that the federal system is facing.