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Dimmer Prospects

With the extremist brands increasingly defining religious politics, the prospects for religious parties in Pakistan are not bright.

By Shahrukh Mehboob | February 2022


Pakistan’s status as an Islamic ideological state is deeply rooted in history and is linked closely both with the praetorian ambitions of the Pakistani military and the Pakistani elite’s worldview. For the foreseeable future, Islam will remain a significant factor in the country’s politics. Islamic parties in Pakistan have been a potent force to reckon with and can be counted among the elite groups that influence political processes and decision-making in Pakistan. These Islamic parties have a tremendous amount of street power, even though they have not done well in terms of votes in general elections over the years.

They have established a definite place for themselves among the various elite groups that determine political processes and decision-making in the country, which include the military, bureaucratic, Punjabi, and business elite. They exercised influence not only during the years of the Afghan jihad but also continue to play a role in present-day politics. It was quite puzzling for the scholars of political Islam to see such a wide gap between historically deep Islamic political activism and the poor electoral performance of the religious groups.

In the first place, the religious parties were never popular with the people as a political alternative to conventional political parties. For the first quarter of a century, after Pakistan’s independence, most of these parties confined themselves to preaching Islam, establishing religious institutions, and thought of Islamizing society at the grass-roots level as the central elements of their ideal.

It was during the Ayub Khan era (1958-1969) that they embraced political ambitions. They have a significant influence on the politics of the country and have a tremendous amount of street power, despite the fact that they have never been able to do well in terms of votes in elections. The Jamaat-i-Islami (JI), the Jamiat-ul-Ulema-i-Islam (JUI), and the Jamiat-ul-Ulema-i-Pakistan (JUP) have never got more than six seats in all (combined) in the National Assembly.

Yet these parties are at the forefront on issues like the establishment of Shariat Courts and legislation on subjects like ushr, zakat, or blasphemy. The founding father and thinker behind the Jamaat-i-Islami, Abul Aala Maududi propounded theses of “Islamic state”, “Islamic ideology” and an “Islamic political system” quite similar to the political themes of the Ikhwan ul Muslimeen (Muslim Brotherhood) of Egypt. Actually, Maududi with clarity of his thought, articulation, and prolific writings has left a great mark on the Islamic movements operating beyond Pakistan.


State patronage of religious parties has resulted in competition among different religious groups for power, which has increasingly turned violent. With the Pakistani state adopting a clear Sunni predisposition in its laws and policies, the rivalry between Shias and Sunnis and even among different Sunni groups became further entrenched.

Soon after its independence in 1947, Pakistan’s first instance of sectarian violence targeted the Ahmadiya minority, a small religious group that calls itself Muslim and takes its name from its founder Mirza Ghulam Ahmad. The Ahmadis are considered heretical by Muslims because Ahmadis do not believe in the finality of the Holy Mohammed (Peace be upon him), the last prophet.

A sustained anti-Ahmadi campaign by Sunni religious groups starting in the 1950s led the government to designate Ahmadis as non-Muslims through a constitutional amendment in 1974. Following the anti-Ahmadi violence in 1954, the government appointed a special court of inquiry. The Munir Commission report 1954 concluded that religious experts should stay out of constitution-making, while government should stay out of the business of defining who is a Muslim or how to enforce Islam as a state religion.

In recent decades, the emergence of radical, violent groups like the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and their war against state and society has further tarnished the image of the religious groups and parties. That is hardly convincing for any altruistic religious manifesto or quest for creating an Islamic state.

Yet, there is another troubling legacy: deadly sectarian violence that keeps visiting vulnerable individuals and social groups, ringing the alarm bell louder among the voting population about the rising power of such groups. Ordinary people and their opponents haven’t bought the logic that the religious political parties are different, as they have taken a constitutional path to power. Their tagging with militancy in popular imagination remains strong.

Fragmented as they are and with the extremist brands increasingly defining religious politics, the prospects for religious parties in Pakistan are dimmer today than ever before. Lack of governance, poor socio-economic conditions, and a problem-ridden state-run education system have also resulted in greater space for these Islamic political parties in Pakistan.

The trouble is that over the years bigotry and intolerance have made such deep inroads into our society. For the past 1400 years, Muslims have been facing decline, poverty, disrespect, vice versa the westerners have been ruling the entire world. We are well aware that generally, we are far behind in science, technology, art, economics, then other nations.

The primary reason behind the decline is misinterpretation of religion, lack of freedom and habit of copying instead of the application of mind and use of reason and wisdom for new ideas and concepts and even to resolve issues today confronting all of us.

There is almost a consensus among experts that Pakistan’s education system, an important factor in inciting intolerance, must be reformed. Better governance and enhancing economic opportunity will make it more difficult for radical Islamists parties to influence the country’s burgeoning youth.

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