The rocky road to modernity: an assessment of Pakistan’s 75 years

Abstract

To assess whether Pakistan is moving towards or away from modernity I examine here the evolution of three key aspects: the overall idea system of society, the political system, and national culture. A meaningful analysis must begin with pre-colonial India, examine how British rule made fundamental changes, and the emergence of Pakistan as a result of Muslim religious identity. Although the beginnings of Pakistani modernity were shaky, the earlier inclination was to equalise with the developed world at large. In the mid-1980s this changed profoundly with the advent of political Islam, explicit repudiation of overt forms of western modernity, and a sharply increased tendency to seek examplars in the Islamic past. That trend has since accelerated under the influence of social media. But most Pakistanis, I argue, still want to hedge their bets and seek the fruits of modernity within a framework that they perceive as not inimical to their faith in Islam.