The Islamization of Pakistan's Foreign Policy
| Published date | 01 March 1996 |
| DOI | 10.1177/002070209605100106 |
| Date | 01 March 1996 |
| Subject Matter | Africa's ProspectsComment & Opinion |
LOUIS
A.
DELVOIE
Comment
The
Islamization
&
opinton
of
Pakistan's
foreign
policy
Pakistan
was
founded
in
1947
to
provide
a
homeland
for
the
Muslims
of
the
Indian
subcontinent,
a
homeland
in which
they
could
live
free
from
the
domination of
the
Hindu
majority
of
the
region.
The
design
of
the
founding
father
of
Pakistan,
Mohammed
AliJinnah,
was
to
create
a
Muslim
country
in
which
a
Muslim
majority
would
be
free
to
exercise
its
religion,
live
according
to
its
customs,
and
develop
its
culture,
but
also
one
in
which
minorities
would
enjoy
equality
of
rights
and
citizen-
ship.
His
purpose
was
not
to
create
an
Islamic
state,
but
Pakistan
has over
the
years
diverged
from the
course on
which
Jinnah
set
it
and
assumed
most
of
the
formal
characteristics
of
an
Islamic
state. In
recent
years
this
reality
has
become
increasingly
evident
in
Pakistan's
foreign
policy,
in
part
reflecting
domestic
forces,
in
part
a
reaction
to
external
events.
This
in
turn
will
render
far
more
difficult
all
future
international
efforts to
con-
trol
nuclear
weapons
proliferation
in
south
Asia
and
to
foster
a
peace process aimed
at
improving
Indo-Pakistan
relations
and
resolving
the
Kashmir
problem.
IDEOLOGICAL
EVOLUTION
In
the
course
of
a
long
and
prominent
career
in
the
Indian
independence
movement,
Jinnah
slowly,
and
at
times
reluc-
tantly,
come
to
the conclusion
that
a
united
India could
not
fulfil
the
aspirations
of
its
Muslim citizens.
He
became
con-
The
author
was
Canadian
High
Commissioner
to Pakistan from
1991
to
1994
and
is
at
present
a
Skelton-Clark
Fellow
at
Queen's
University,
Kingston,
Canada.
The
views
expressed
in
this
article are the
author's
and do
not
necessarily
reflect
those
of
the
government of
Canada.
International
Journal
LI
WINTER
1995-96
PAKISTAN'S
FOREIGN
POLICY
127
vinced
that
the
Muslims
needed
a
country
of
their
own
and
went
on
to
become the
dominant
force
in
the
movement
to
create
a
separate
and
independent
Pakistan
carved
out
of
what
was
then
British
India.
Jinnah's
vision
of
Pakistan
was
of
a
coun-
try
composed
principally
of
Muslims
but
essentially
secular
and
democratic
in
its
constitution
and
political
institutions.
He
made
this
clear
in
a
speech
on
11
August
1947,
three
days
before
independence,
when
he
told
members
of
the
Constitu-
ent
Assembly
that:
'You
are
free
to
go
to
your
temples,
you
are
free
to
go
to
your
mosques
or
to
any
other
places
of
worship
in
this
State
of
Pakistan.
You
may
belong
to
any
religion
or
caste
or
creed
-
that
has
got
nothing
to
do
with
the
business
of
the
State.'
He
went
on
to suggest
that
ideally
'Hindus
would
cease
to
be
Hindus
and
Muslims
would
cease
to
be
Muslims,
not
in
the
religious
sense,
because
that
is
the
personal
faith
of
each
individual,
but
in
the
political
sense
as
citizens
of the
State."
But
Jinnah
did
not
long
survive
the
birth
of
Pakistan,
and
the
government
quickly
came
under
pressure
from
the
ulema
(religious
scholars)
to
give
the
new
nation
a
more
Islamic
char-
acter.
This
was
the
starting
point
of
what
was
to
be
a
prolonged
national
debate
over
the difference
between
a
Muslim
state
and
an
Islamic
state
and
which Pakistan
should
be.
The
definitional
question
was
answered
in
more
or
less
complex
ways,
depending
on
whether
it
was
examined
in
political
or
in
legal
and
religious
terms.
The
distinguished
Pakistani
scholar
and
politician,
Khur-
shid
Ahmad,
put
it quite
simply:
'A
Muslim
state
is
any
state
which
is
inhabited and
ruled
by
Muslims.
An
Islamic
state,
on
the
other
hand,
is
one
which
opts
to
conduct
its
affairs in
accor-
dance
with
the
revealed
guidance
of
Islam
and
accepts
the
sov-
ereignty
of
Allah
and
the
supremacy
of
His
law,
and
which
devotes
its
resources
to
achieve
this
end.'2
i
Quoted
in
I.
Ahmed,
The Concept
of
an
Islamic State
in
Pakistan
(Lahore:
Vanguard
Books
1991),
79.
2
K.
Ahmad,
'Why
Muslims
want
an
Islamic
state,'
in
Muslim
(Islamabad)
25
March
1994,
7.
For
a
more
complex
and
juridical
approach
to the
problem
of
definition
by
a
former
chief
justice
of
Pakistan,
see
M.
Munir,
FromJinnah
to
7ia
(Lahore:
Vanguard
Books
198o),
97-159-
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