Nasreen Akhtar Ethnic Politics in Pakistan By Nasreen Akhtar Introduction As a result of questions of ethnic identity, Pakistan has had enormous difficulty in developing a coherent sense of nationhood. Religion has polarized more than unified societies. Even within a single religious denomination one may find numerous strands. Doctrinal differences, political contestation for power, material gains and territorial space can make the particular religion and the question of authenticity one of great dispute. 1 Complex historical and social factors have shaped the interaction between religion-ethnicity and politics in Pakistan, a state which came into being with the support of ethnic groups. Pre-independence Muslim identity threatened by Hindu dominance was a more important factor than ethnicity among Muslim groups and political parties. Of course, Islam has remained at the centre of post-Independence political discourse; nevertheless it is today less important when the central issue has become the demand of constitutional rights by various ethnic groups. The question of what type of state Pakistan should be -- liberal democratic or Islamic -- evokes distinct responses from each social sector and political interest. Military leaders, mainstream political parties, and Islamists have all attempted to define this relationship according to their vision of a just society and the role of religion in society and state affairs. Thus the Civil-military rule and their policy preferences provided a space for community groups to emerge as an effective force in the state. Among the three main forces in the country, the quest for shaping the Pakistani state has added yet another dimension to the ethnic and political polarization in Pakistan. As a consequence of this conflict of interests and the strange alliances it produces, the autonomy of the civil political sphere and civil liberties and minority rights has been severely compromised. In this paper I shall explain t how ethnic groups have been politicised and promoted by the state elite. I shall also examine two basic questions. Has the 1 Rasul Bakhsh Rais, Recovering the Frontier State: War, Ethnicity and State in Afghanistan, (USA: Lexington Books, 2008).P.1