The Islamic Republic of Pakistan marks its 71st Independence Day today. Contrary to popular perception, Islamisation of the country and its army did not start with the military ruler Gen. Zia-ul-Haq in the late 1970s
‘Islam is Pak army’s corporate ideology’
Our neighbour was founded on the basis of the two-nation theory. So, it is not a surprise when the scholar Christine Fair notes that the “Pakistan army was born an ideological army that specifically espoused Islam as its corporate ideology”. “Conventional wisdom about the Islamisation of the army … underestimates its longevity,” she adds in her book Fighting to the End
Jinnah and his double talk
But did Pakistan’s Quaid-e-Azam M A Jinnah not say in 1947 that “you may belong to any religion or caste or creed; that has nothing to do with the business of the state”? Yes, but the same man, a year later said that he could not understand the “logic of those who have been deliberately and mischievously propagating that the constitution will not be based on Islamic Sharia.” And it was not an one-off comment, for Jinnah did make similar remarks much earlier
It’s the people too
Islamisation is not confined to the army. A 2015 Pew Research Center survey found 9 per cent of Pakistanis (around 17 million) had a favourable view of the Islamic State. Further, a majority of 64 per cent offered no opinion on the jihadist group though its atrocities are well known
Kill the apostates
Nearly 84 per cent of Pakistanis want Sharia to be the official law of the land, a survey by Pew in 2013 found. Among those who favour Sharia, 76 per cent are in favour of death penalty for those who leave Islam