Abstract

Pakistan is a country founded on Islamic identity, and it was established to safeguard Muslims' religious, cultural, and historical identities. Individuals and families can find spiritual, social, psychological, and often material support through religion. Pakistan's interest in building a righteous, organized, systematic, peaceable, & prosperous nation has indeed been paramount since time immemorial. Pakistan, since its inception inherited ethnically, sociologically, territorially, financially, and linguistically diverse social structure and population. Religion served as the foundation for the configuration of this nation. Specific structures of societal, economic and social deprivation altered this governmental ideology. Even though the country remains dominantly Muslim, demographically, it is relatively fragmented and disintegrated. This paper investigates the components of diversification that ultimately stymied Pakistan's nation-building process and will examine the process of Islamization, particularly during the Zia era, which assisted Pakistan in establishing a unified society based on Islamic principles of progressive political equality, and economic justice.

Key Words

Religion, Pakistan, Deterritorialization, and Re-territorialization, Nation-building

Introduction

Nation-building is a dialectical pattern wherein individuals & societies communicate with their biological, physiological, & inter-human surroundings, restructuring them towards their own & civilization's advantage while also being transformed (Harris Mylonas. 2010). The major religious communities' cosmologically pivotal paradigm was supplemented with a more culturally pluralist perception of the broader world, which also ultimately results in the territorialization of religions and cultures & discourse, foreshadowing the challenging nature of the language of nationalists. Well before the French Revolution, the empire's sphere with a dynasty at the apices of the societal structure deduced legitimacy first from divine power, underwent significant major revisions, & fixed interest on the combative since then (Paul R. Powers, 2017).

Reterritorialization is the reconfiguration of a deterritorialized position or region. Deterritorialization is a phrase developed by Deleuze & Guattari in their 1972–1980 epistemological research work, Capitalism & Schizophrenia. They acknowledge that comparative deterritorialization will always be followed by reterritorialization. That is the new power's design. For instance, just after the Spanish (Hernán Cortés) successfully invaded the Aztecs & deterritorialized by stripping away the icons of the Aztecs' rituals and practices, the Spanish reterritorialized by erecting their own beliefs and rituals (Deleuze, Gilles, and Félix Guattari. 1972). This sort of propaganda helped them achieve possession of the area. Rhetoric is an effort to reterritorialize by affecting people's experiences via common and prevalent knowledge (Nelson, Richard Alan. 1996).  Kataria (2019) investigates' reterritorialization of persecuted identity' as an interpretation of religious exclusion, attempting to re-establish a geographical linkage since their emergence in their host culture, a procedure that appears to stimulate ethnic-religious conflict with marginalized groups (Kataria, Shyamal. 2019). 

 Ever since Pakistan's inception as a country for the Muslim community in 1947 after gaining independence from the British, religion has been the core component in constructing a common national identity & unity in the country; else they have divided it in parallel to the longitudinal ethnocultural, regional, ethnic, religious, social stratification, & cultural boundaries (Mortimer, E, 1982). Civil & military leaders have been using Islam to legitimize their regime and also as an instrument of official policy, bolstering the importance of religious parties in society & politics. The state's support for religious parties & groups has contributed to a struggle for power between many different ethnic and religious groups that have become extremely violent (Talbot, I, 2010).

Conceptual Framework

Religion is a cause of molded behavior, making it more difficult to provide a single universal definition. There are hundreds or thousands of descriptions in books presently (Emile Durkheim, 2001).  It's indeed is critical to emphasize the fact in our discussion that such definitions weren't without weaknesses, in the context of the new international development landscapes related to the digital flow of thoughts, ideological paradigms, & enhanced transportation of people.  The dynamic landscape is a crucial "push" element for the construction of "new" communities, regardless of whether they are "old" structured nations or new and emerging ones (Ezeaku, I, 1999). Relocation & cultural pluralism difficulties, and also religious doctrine and its use in daily life, are some of the crucial challenges impacting the global political & social environment. Religious doctrine is therefore no longer stigmatized but instead has an impact on the social construction of belief systems. If nation-building is a feature of collective cohesion, and also "social solidarity" in Durkheim's phraseology, and also a particular piece of socioeconomic integration, which can necessitate the participation of different pressures, and also include religious people, then a critical issue arises: whether the nation-building procedure of integration encompasses or eliminates religious cooperation? (Anikwe, N. O, 2004).

The concept of nation has been difficult to describe and has become very controversial, especially when it comes to nation-building. As per Emerson (1960), there is no widespread consensus on what constitutes a nation. A nation can be defined as "historically fixed with a well-defined boundary, speaking the language &, ideally, its very own language, containing a distinctive culture, & forming to a widely accepted mold of several generations after generation of shared collective history" (Emerson, 1960). As per Tamir (1995) individuals might indeed consider sharing a territory or even a chronological recollection without seeing themselves as representatives of the very same nation, Irele (1999) defined nation-building as "the process by which people transfer their identities." Nation-building, according to Irele (1999), is "the process through which people transmit their loyalty & commitment from tribal groups, rural areas, or petty principalities to a relatively large central political system" (Engin, Kenan, 2013). Nation-building structures can be defined, for the context of this research, as the ability to bring diverse people or communities together to develop one's common land. Nation-building is the process of constructing or restructuring a national identity through the use of state power (Bendix, Reinhard, 1964). 

Nation-building can necessitate the use of such rhetoric as well as major infrastructural advancements to promote social cohesiveness & economic development. Andreas Wimmer, a sociology professor at Columbia University, believes that three components are generally preferred to examine the long term success of nation-building: "the initial development of civil society patterns and institutions, the emergence of a country capable of delivering social infrastructure uniformly all over a region, as well as the formation of a shared means of communication" (Mylonas, Harris, 2012). Flags, fabrics of arms, patriotic songs, national days, national sporting venues, national airlines, national languages, & national myths are all examples of nationwide accouterments (Keith Darden & Harris Mylonas. 2016). At a profound level, national identity may be deliberately engineered by reshaping different ethnicities into a nation, particularly since colonial practices of divide and conquer tactics would have resulted in racially diverse communities in many recently established states (Bereketeab, Redie, 2020). 

Four major interpretations of modern nation-state formation have already been examined. First, there seems to be chronological research within one or even more components of the modern nation's path-dependent history and development such as standing armies, the modern tax system, formal bureaucracy, parliament, universal suffrage, citizenship rights, and recognition by other states. Secondly, another more constricted series of analyses concentrate on how these nations obtained definite unique "formal" characteristics of a modern nation-state, including such organizational detachment from those other spheres of social life, its very own political rationalization & operating modes, & unique guaranteed by the constitution democratic legitimacy centered on adhesion to the own methodologies but instead of beliefs such as religious authority or natural rights. Third, numerous different intellectuals investigate the development and implementation of state projects which provide substantiated instead of simply structured unity to state policies, allowing the state to behave "as if" this were comparatively centralized. They examine states based on their hegemonic initiatives, including such laissez-faire capitalist, liberal, welfare, authoritarian, structural, or contestability states. 4th, "configurationally" evaluations investigate the dynamic characteristics of state civil civilization interactions & discover ways to contextualize state formation inside significant cultural progressions (John Boli, Frank J. Lechner, 2015). 

Religion as an Instrument for Deterritorialization and Reterritorialization

Deterritorialization is the activity whereby the prevailing entity & circumstances of a social relationship within a territory, are altered, transmogrified, or severely damaged. The components after which constitute a distinct relationship and are reterritorialized. The concept was used to characterize the realignment of cultural, social, financial, & political methodologies, and also people, entities, language groups, belief systems, & religious views in connection to their originating bodies (Bob Jessop, 2020). A few intellectuals have also considered a literal interpretation of the said phrase, utilizing it to geographical territories & their relationships (Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari. 1972).

According to Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari, deterritorialization and reterritorialization occur in conjunction. Deterritorialization can be identified as "the progression wherein one chooses to leave a territory," as well recognized as a "line of flight," but also "defines & expanded" the territory as a whole. They differentiate with both absolute and relative deterritorialization in their work, A Thousand Plateaus, published in 1980, the second book of Capitalism & Schizophrenia. Reterritorialization invariably describes relative deterritorialization (Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari , 1980).

Deterritorialization involves the loss of a "natural" correlation among society and cultural & spatial territories, but it also describes a significant transformation in correlation among our daily diverse identity and our reconfiguration as ideally local humans. As per Giddens, "the real essence of temporal involves influencing, integrating vicinity & proximity in aspects that has very few connected parallels in previous eras." However, it is critical not to perceive the deterritorialization of localized cultural aspects as a reduction in cultural diffusion (Giddens, A, 1990).

Mediatization serves as a favorable root cause of deterritorialization even while acting as a motivator for other references of deterritorialization. Other factors might be tourism, economic transformations, migrations, and vast shopping centers. As Tomlinson explains, because Mediatization is so pervasive in routine contemporaneous diverse identity experiences, it seems to be definitive in a deterritorialized unique culture. Through the modern global mainstream media, the above-mentioned elements can affect establishing up to the realities & broadening knowledge of other cultures (Tomlinson, J, 1999). This signifies that internationalization alters the relationship between our living environments & our social activities experiences, & identities (Hernandez, G. M, 2002).

Religion is the best example in this regard. In a range of circumstances and contexts, religion has been used to deterritorialize and reterritorialize territory. Consider taking, the example of Pakistan, which was founded in 1947 on the catchphrase of religion Islam and deterritorialized India before reconstituting and reterritorializing a territory called Pakistan (Islam. 2013). East Timor is a classic prime example. Bosnia in Europe is also an example of this, as is Turkey's Ottoman Empire, which was disintegrated. In a social context, religious bases in a social context can be deterritorialized and reterritorialized; it can also be redistributed and restructured into social classes based on religious divisions, such as a church, a mosque, or a temple. These entities reterritorialized people based on the belief system that those who practice a specific religion are more virtuous they are morally superior and some are marginalized show In this way, territories and social interactions are deterritorialized reterritorialized. Roy spearheaded the deterritorialization conceptual model as it adapted to the Islamic Civilization. His once novel euphemisms of deterritorialization & deculturation have become completely obvious, asserting that Muslim migration towards the global north has disengaged the generation that grew up inside the West from their families' cultural influences of Islam. Culture and religion are now comprehended to be opposed, and then as a consequence, young Muslim Immigrants are attempting a stereotyped version of Islam which is separated from contemporary culture grounding & beliefs, as well as its delightful worldview (Olivier, 2013).

Religion's Role in Pakistani Nation Building

Religious ideology was the driving force behind Two Nation Theory which gave rise to Pakistan. As per Mubarak Ali, the reformation of Muslim political identity has been influenced by the British regime and also the election system (Asaf Hussain, 1976). At the time of British rule, several religious major political parties sprang up intending to sustain Religious identity not only as a religious aspect but as a political one. During the Pakistan Freedom struggle, mainstream religious parties such as Jameet Ulema Hind, Jamat e Islami, & Majlis e Ehrar were offended by the idea of Pakistan, however, the leaders of the Muslim League was very well aware of religious emotional experiences & used them to secure the help of Ulema and Mushaikh (Aftab Kazi, 1994). 

In Pakistan, the concept of nation-building has remained elusive. Although religion was a motivating factor behind the national unity of the Muslim community, the influence of religious doctrine has remained a significant factor in Muslim and Pakistani history. The dilemma is why it has become such a crucial component in Pakistan's nation-building. According to the study and analysis, when Pakistan was constructed, other variables such as language, territory, and political consciousness were not given the importance they rightfully deserve. According to Khalid bin Saeed, a renowned Pakistani political analyst, when Pakistan was formed, the Muslim League as a founding party was unable to transform itself into a party capable of turning theory into practice. For him, the Muslim League lacked the human capacity required to transform theoretical paradigms into reality (Khalid B. Sayeed, 1967). Another Pakistani political theorist, Ayesha Jalal, contends that Pakistan was founded on religious nationalism rather than defending Islam. Because Islam is a universal religion, it does not require the protection of a small group of people. The rights of Muslims in the subcontinent were jeopardized, giving rise to Muslim nationalism in India (Ayesha Jalal, 1995). Many moderate Muslims at the time joined the slogan of Islam to establish Pakistan, whose interests and rights were jeopardized during the British colonial period, and if the British left India without any constitution guarantees or division of the subcontinent, they felt that Muslims would not be able to survive, which is why in Pakistan nation-building and religion work side by side (Ahmed S. Akbar, 2009).

An initiative has been taken throughout the newly established state to bridge ethnolinguistic discrepancies by constructing a religious unity and identity, and it was perceived that Islam-based national philosophy is essential for national integrity. The religious doctrine was central to the development of a constitution and also the structuring of a nation. General Yahya governed for a brief duration, but during that period that General Yahya Khan narrated the term "Glory of Islam," and also the military dictatorship financially supported religious & right-wing parties against socialists, nationalist groups, and also the radical left. For the very first time throughout that timeframe, the religious doctrine was incorporated into military doctrine. Whereas during the Bhutto government, a new constitution was drafted in 1973, in which religious doctrine was at the forefront. The Bhutto regime was also the first democratically elected Government, which used the religious doctrine to pacify its opposition (Ahmed Ishtiaq, 1996).  Even during elections in 1970, the People's Party centered on communism, however, the catchphrase for the 1977 voting was Islamic Socialism. Numerous religious declarations were crafted to appeal to the public, such as repealing the weekly Sunday vacation for Friday, allowing the teaching of the Holy Quran made mandatory, instituting a federal Ulema academy, and so forth. The opposition coalition alliance "Pakistan National Alliance"  was comprised of nine right-wing religion-based political parties, also with the democratic election tagline “ "Nizam e Mustafa" (Sayeed, K. B, 1980).

The Zia Government was both externally and internally unpopular. To hold onto power, the military sought the assistance of political groups, which they obtained by convincing right-wing religious political parties. Also on the internal side, Zia utilized Islamic doctrine to monetize his regime, while on the external side, the jihad notion and also the linkage of mullah and military alliance were used to gain legitimacy. The primary beneficiaries of this mullah military collaboration were religious entities, particularly Jamaat e Islami. The Zia administration's Islamization procedure had an ideological, sociocultural, & economic plan; politically, it wish to increase & validate its regime; sociologically, it sought to acquire the assistance of religious groups, parties & agree to their imperatives (S. V. R. Nasr, 2000). Although General Zia's Islamisation protrusion ended up with him, the aftershocks of Zia's regime can still be felt today. The Zia period developed the Taliban, violent extremism, & factionalism. And during the Zia period, Islamist parties, particularly the Jamat e Islami, subverted academic institutions, the military services, and also the bureaucratic system. The Soviet invasion of Afghanistan prepared the path for right-wing parties to obtain control of the country (Ahmad Sami Syed, 2004). 

During the 1990s, the right-wing political & religious parties in power  & Senate passed a Shari'a Bill with a two-thirds majority that was sent to the National Assembly for adoption, however, the National Assembly was dissolved through the Presidential order before any measures were implemented. Another attempt in this regard was made in October 1998, when the Nawaz government enacted the highly contested Shari'a Bill with a two-thirds majority through the National Assembly, which had been ultimately rejected by the Senate of Pakistan. General Zia's Islamic initiatives were preceded by Benazir and Nawaz's political government entities, but Musharraf opted for a more pragmatic view of religion (Shah, Syed I, 2001).

The post-9/11 scenario, as well as the participation in the US-led war on terrorism, enabled the Musharraf administration & military establishment to adopt a more moderate stance on Islam. The Musharraf military dictatorship launched the new catchphrase "Pakistan First," which helped in liberalizing Pakistan's ideological position by religious identity (Chak Mujahid Farhan, 2015). Musharraf attempted to change the Blasphemy Law, however, failed because of religious groups' opposition. while  In the 2002 national election, the Mutahida Majlis e Amal which was an alliance of right-wing parties won the majority in the K.P. region & constituted a government coalition with the help of PMLq in Balochistan too while functioning as the opposing party in the National Legislature. This was the first time in Pakistan's history, an alliance of religious parties was capable of forming government in any of the provinces (Talbot, I, 2010).

In 2007, Islamabad's Lal Masjid leaders were confronted with state authority by ransacking DVD shops, beauty salons, & massage parlors, castigating people for functioning as pimps & instituting their own Shari'a prosecutor. The abduction of Chinese by divinity school students at Lal Masjid forced the Musharraf government to intervene, culminating in more than 150 deaths within the masjid. The Lal Masjid situation was accompanied by the rising tide of suicide bombings, especially in K.P., and also the upsurge of the Taliban resistance movement against the country. Swat was yet another territory of Pakistan in which the Taliban formed their temporary injunction of government through panic and fear, established the Shari'a court system, & openly penalized the people, including death sentences. The Pakistani Government initiated an operation in 2009, & the Taliban were driven out of Swat and South Waziristan (Mehdi, R, 2013).

The Impact of Islamization on Society's Socio-Religious Fabric

The process of Islamization had far-reaching consequences in Pakistan. to obtain mobilization & support even against the Soviet Union and Afghanistan, Zia ul Haq instituted Islamization. A few intellectuals saw this as a consequence of the Islamic revolution in Iran. Islamization seems to have been a reaction to a confrontational geopolitical environment. People supported his discourse, and yet he has been unable to establish the principles of Islamic society. Islamization had been a method for Zia ul Haq to obtain legitimacy. It was just a ploy to keep the rule in place (Ziring, 2005).

Islamization reshaped the character of Pakistan's institutions, but it had disastrous consequences. Islam had ceased to be a cohesive factor throughout all states. Often quite, it strained relations among different sects. Shias criticized Islamization for imposing the Hanafi legal code. Secular organizations fought back against this process of Islamization (Abuza, Zachary, 2003). They perceived Islamization as a step forward towards a religious theocracy. Islamic sects saw Islamization as a sufficient step towards another Islamic country. Religious militant groups such as spam e Shaba & sipha e Mohammad arose. Such institutions belonged to the Shia and Sunni ideologies (Haqqani, H, 2005).

This artificial process of Islamization eroded women's power & interaction in conventional social structures. The law of evidence undermined women's political & social classes. Zia's Islamization failed to implement Shariah law further into modern regulatory arrangements. The Women's Action Forum chastised the Sixth Plan's planners for failing to acknowledge women's work & efforts to the country's economic growth. Women protested the Islamization legislation because they were the direct recipients of it. Females in cities founded a women's action forum to promote awareness about their privileges (Weiss, 1985).

Religious fundamentalism weakened the fabric of society & enhanced terrorist activity. This artificial process of Islamization strangled liberal-democratic narratives. The state was unable to formulate policies that reflected religious tolerance and diversification. Government-backed Islamic extremist entities & madaris, who had a never-ending supply chain contributed to sectarian violent extremism, Provisions of the constitution were exposed to Islamic identity politics & power generation (Hasan, P, 1998).

Conclusion

The authors conclude that ideological instrumentalization of religious doctrine was made ruthlessly in Pakistan under both civilian & military governments, but that a nation commanded in the name of religious beliefs struggled to establish Islam that identities, which mainly repudiated most other identities, notably geographical, linguistic, & social. As a result, the deterritorialization and re-territorialization of religious doctrine have produced political & constitutional agreements nearly impossible to achieve. Moreover, when authoritarian governments & constitutional authorities patronize numerous religious communities & political groups in line with organizational goals, this has several consequences for Pakistan's state and civil society.

Pakistan, as the Islamic Republic wherein Islam will indeed predominate, will indeed inevitably work on the rights of minority communities. The way of balancing out the religious connotations in the Constitution, the basic human rights, territorial sovereignty, & political equality was contemporary & liberal. The influence of religion in the political & ideological evolution of the society also would include the Islamic principle of Jihad or religious war that has ignited discourse among liberal countries. Religious conservatives & liberal democrats have different understandings of the ideology of Jihad. The concept is intended to represent a perpetual military conflict between both the Muslim & non-Muslim worlds. This conflict, nevertheless, does not entail the murder of people, but instead a perception of non-recognition of many other regions or persons. 

References

• Abuza, Z. (2003). Militant Islam in Southeast Asia. Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner,
• Aftab, K. A. (1994). Ethnicity and Education in Nation-Building in Pakistan, Lahore: Vanguard Books,
• Ahmad, S. S. (2004). History of Pakistan and Role of Army, Karachi: Royal Book Company,
• Ahmed, I. (1996). State, Nation and Ethnicity in Contemporary South Asia, London: Pinter,
• Ahmed, S. A. (2009). Jinnah, Pakistan, and Islamic Identity: The Search for Saladin, Bloomsbury: London,
• Anikwe, N. O. (2004). Religious Violence and Fundamentalism in Contemporary Nigeria: Implications for Social Development, In Okwueze M. I. (ed.). Religion and Societal Development. Lagos: Merit International Publications.
• Asaf, H. (1976). Ethnicity, National Identity, and Praetorianism: The Case of Pakistan, ‖ in, Asian Survey, University of California Press, 16
• Bendix, R. (1964). Nation-building & citizenship: studies of our changing social order, influential pioneer
• Bereketeab, R. (2020), "Education as an Instrument of Nation‐Building in Postcolonial Africa." Studies in Ethnicity and Nationalism, 71–90.
• Bob, J. (2020). The Origins of the State and State- Building, International Encyclopedia of Human Geography (Second Edition),
• Chak, M. F. (2015). Islam and Pakistan’s Political Culture, New York: Routledge,
• Deleuze G., & Félix, G. (1980). A Thousand Plateaus. Trans. Brian Massumi. London and New York: Continuum, 2004. 2 of Capitalism and Schizophrenia. 2 1972–1980. Trans. of Mille Plateaux. Paris: Les Editions de Minuit. ISBN 0-8264-7694-5.
• Deleuze, G., & Félix G. (1972). Anti-Å’dipus. Trans. Robert Hurley, Mark Seem and Helen R. Lane. London and New York: Continuum, 2004. Vol. 1 of Capitalism and Schizophrenia. 2 1972-1980. Trans. of L'Anti-Oedipe. Paris: Les Editions de Minuit. ISBN 0-8264-7695- 3.
• Emile, D. (2001). The Elementary Forms of Religious Life, translated from French by C. Cosman, Oxford: Oxford University Press,
• Engin, K. (2013). Nation-Building" – Theoretische Betrachtung und Fallbeispiel: Irak (in German). Baden Baden: Nomos Verlag. ISBN 978-3-8487-0684-6.
• Ezeaku, I. (1999) Religious Forces as Moral Rules and Actions for National Reconciliation in Nigeria Bulletin of African Religion and Culture (BARC) in Ezeaku, I (ed) Awka: National Association for African Religion and Culture.
• Giddens, A. (1990) The Consequences of Modernity, Cambridge. Polity Press.
• Haqqani, H. (2005). Pakistan: Between Mosque And Military. Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
• Harris, M. (2010). "Assimilation and its Alternatives: Caveats in the Study of Nation- Building Policies", In Rethinking Violence: States and Non-State Actors in Conflict, eds. Adria Lawrence and Erica Chenoweth. BCSIA Studies in International Security, MIT Press