So claims Ali Eteraz:
Most people in the world, including some Pakistanis, live under the illusion that the country is secular and just happens to have been overrun by extremists. This is false. Pakistan became an Islamic state in 1973 when the new constitution made Islam the state religion. Under the earlier 1956 constitution Islam had been merely the “official” religion. Nineteen-seventy-three, in other words, represents Pakistan’s “Iran moment“—when the government made itself beholden to religious law. Most western observers missed the radical change because the leader of Pakistan at the time was Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, a whiskey-drinking, pseudo-socialist from a Westernized family. Those that did notice the transformation ignored it because the country was reeling from a massive military defeat in 1971, which led to half the nation becoming Bangladesh.
Yes, but maybe they will become a more Islamic country once the current government is replaced.
Thanks, seeded to Newsvine: http://hircus.newsvine.com/_news/2009/04/30/2758894-pakistan-is-already-an-islamic-state
A very interesting analysis. The more knowledgeable Western analysts normally identify Zia ul-Haq as leading Pakistan down the path of Islamism, but it turns out it started even earlier. The moral lesson is to never play with fire — what’s one man against a 1400-year-old ideology.
Not quite Islamic enough, apparently.
This infamous case is from 1993. (I couldn’t find the full text online; the cite is 26 S.C.M.R. 1718.)
State + religion = danger. This is why I read Secular Right. I don’t care where in the world it happens or what religions are involved, when religion and state combine, the most horrible results are piled upon the believers and citizens of each.
If you could find yourself a good medium, you could ask any of several millions of the victims of Soviet and Chinese communism how wonderful things are when the state vigorously distances itself from religion.
(No fair calling communism a religion. That’s cheating.)
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