Mansoor Ahmed
PhD Student
Field(s): Ethnology / Social Anthropology
Institutional affiliation(s): EHESS
Professional contact information
Dissertation director: Michel Boivin
PhD program: EHESS - History and Civilizations
Initial registration: 2015
Governmentality in Pakistan: A Study of the Council of Islamic Ideology (1957-1988)
Pakistan came into being after the British rule ceased to exist in the Sub-continent at the night of August 15, 1947. This dominion of Pakistan was later renamed as ‘Islamic Republic of Pakistan’ on 23 March 1956 after the promulgation of its first indigenous constitution. This adverb Islamic to its name aspired from its governments to govern through specific registers which involved the use of Islam to govern population. Consequently, the constitution of 1956 provided the Islamic Laws Commission to recommend such measure that can be given legislative effect to make society Islamic and examine the existing laws. After abrogation of said constitution in 1958, the next constitution drafted by the military government of General Ayub Khan in 1962 renamed this body as Advisory Council of Islamic Ideology with likewise duties. After the abrogation of this constitution in 1969, the present constitution of 1973 drafted by the elected government of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto renamed it as Council of Islamic Ideology with further increased duties. Presently Council of Islamic Ideology is a permanent constitutional body, and its duties are to examine the repugnancy of laws in the lights of Quran and Sunnah and recommend measures to be promulgated as legislations to promote Islamic way of life in the country. It used to send its recommendation to the respective governments ‘confidentially’ until 2005 when its earlier report since its creation were declared public formally. These reports on the one hand provide a glimpse into the issues faced by the society during those years and further provide an insight to look into the hidden mentality of respective government to govern through the politics of Islam. The study traces the causes of its persistence in the constitutions, evolution as an institution, and the role played by the Council from 1956 till 1988 in governmentality. The period selected for the study is significant in the sense that, Pakistan had vacillated between indirectly elected government of President Iskander Mirza, to military government of General Ayub Khan and elected government of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto with the slogan of ‘Islamic socialism’ to the military government of General Zia ul Haq, self-called ‘soldier of Islam’. This study draws extensively on the proceedings of the Council by contrasting its recommendations with the legislations that were promulgated on the name of Islam, newspaper archives and the legislative Assembly debates. It concludes that the existence of the Council and its evolution as an institution shows that governmentality of using Islam was alike during all the governments irrespective of the fact that they were directly elected, indirectly elected or the military governments. It further concludes that the recommendations of the Council played not just an important role in the legislations that were promulgated by the different governments but also impacted the basic fabric of the society in the following years
Keywords: Governmentality; Islamization; Council of Islamic Ideology
Last update: 14 September 2018 (NG)
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