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The Changing Roles of Politicized Islam in Pakistan's Northwest
Organizer & Chair: Anita M. Weiss, University of Oregon
Discussant: Husain Haqqani, Boston University
Pakistan has endured major political upheavals, but none can compare to the compelling impact that Zia’s Islamization campaign has had on the country. Pakistan since 1979 has been transformed into an amalgamation of a series of often contradictory political enterprises which retain one cohesive strand among them: the rhetoric to incorporate more laws and institutions derived from Islam. In October 2002, a decidedly Islamist political coalition, the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal (MMA), was voted into office in the Northwest Frontier Province (NWFP). This unprecedented outcome was the first time in Pakistan’s history that an Islamist political party had won a significant election, and the social and political implications of this event are staggering. The rise of the MMA represents changes throughout the Muslim world as Islam – specifically efforts to recapture the faith and incorporate it into a political agenda – is increasingly used as a rallying cry of identity politics. This panel takes a fresh look at the changing role of Islam in Pakistan's governance right now. It interrogates what the MMA has sought to accomplish since coming to power in the NWFP, the new kinds of Islamic institutions it is seeking to create, and long-term implications for governance in the northwestern parts of Pakistan. This is particularly salient as the country responds to the American military presence on its border with Afghanistan along with relief efforts -- often led by Islamist groups -- to come to grips in recovering from the devastating October 2005 earthquake.
Islamists in the Assembly: The Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal and NWFOP Politics
Robert H. Nichols, Richard Stockton College
This paper examines the effectiveness of the MMA in the NWFP as Islamist social, cultural, and political agendas have been checked and challenged at provincial, national, and international levels. It analyzes the extent that the movement has established a cohesive set of policies, to what extent has fragmentation and internal competition weakened MMA influence, and have wider social or religious mobilizations followed the electoral success of 2002.
Why are Hisba and Hudood so Important? The MMA and Gender Politics in the NWFP
Anita M. Weiss, University of Oregon
The Islamist coalition party, the MMA, won the October 2002 provincial elections in the NWFP. The MMA has since introduced various reforms to make laws and policies consistent – in their vision – with Islam. This paper addresses the most controversial of these reforms, all of which concern the rights of women. A significant emphasis in this paper will be placed on two policies: (1) the proposed Hisba Bill which, in its initial form, was rejected as an unIslamic document by the constitutionally-mandated Council on Islamic Ideology. A new version was introduced in the NWFP provincial assembly the day after the October 2005 devastating earthquake; and (2) the MMA’s fierce opposition to reforming the Hudood Laws (and subsequent passage of the Protection of Women’s Rights bill) which critics claim have had a devastating impact on women’s rights in Pakistan. It has threatened to resign from the National Assembly over this conflict. Why does the MMA consider the Hisba Act so central to its reform agenda, and refuse to consider reforming the Hudood Laws?
Military Interventions in FATA: Import for Security and Governance
Carol Christine Fair, U.S. Institute of Peace
The Pakistan Army, along with related security organizations, have undertaken several inter-connecting efforts to bring the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) into mainstream Pakistan. This is a high-stakes effort. FATA has hosted remnants from Al Qaeda, the Taliban and several other criminal and terrorist enterprises. It is the major crossing point for narcotics as well other licit and illicit goods. Bringing law and order to FATA is critical to diminishing the myriad internal security threats in Pakistan and beyond. Yet the army and the government face numerous challenges. Governance and rule of law in FATA are tenuous and the state has only partially penetrated this rigorous terrain. The area is governed through a colonial-era legal structure that concentrates power in the hands of a few tribal leaders (maliks) and representatives of the government (political agents or PAs). Over the last three decades, this structure has evolved and religious leaders (mullahs) have become important political players in this tribal system as a result of the deliberate infusion of Wahabbist and jihadist ideologies into this area during the 1980s. This paper describes the nature of the security forces’ interventions in FATA, analyzes the impacts of the security forces’ strategy to both bring governance to the region and to diminish the formidable internal security challenges posed by the region, and concludes with a discussion of the implications of these efforts and their import for regional security.
Faultlines and Lines of Control: Islamist Charities, International Organizations, and the Pakistan Military in the Earthquake Relief and Reconstruction Project
Cabeiri D. Robinson, University of Washington
This paper examines the roles of the Pakistan army and security services, international humanitarian organizations, and Islamist charities in providing relief and formulating a reconstruction policy in Azad Kashmir after the earthquake of October 2005. It describes the ways these state, international, and religious organizations have sought to provide relief in this disputed territory and high security zone, and it analyzes the junctures and disjunctures in the different moral languages used to describe social responsibility and political accountability after a natural disaster. The paper focuses particularly on the relief and reconstruction activities of three Islamist charities which are closely connected to jihadist militant groups involved in the armed conflict in Indian-administered regions of Jammu and Kashmir-- the Jamatud Dawa (connected to the Lashkar-e-Tayiba), the Al Rehmat Trust (connected to the Jaish-e-Mohammad), and Al Safa Foundation (connected to Al Badr). The paper concludes with a discussion of public evaluations of the relief and reconstruction work carried out by the national military, international humanitarian organizations, and religious charities in order to evaluate changes in the ways that Kashmiris imagine their relations with ‘the state’ in Azad Kashmir.