Papers by Muhammad Iqbal Chawla
Journal of the Research Society of Pakistan Volume No. 56, Issue No.2 (July –December, 2019), 2019
The present study historicizes the dynamics of socio-cultural and political relations between the... more The present study historicizes the dynamics of socio-cultural and political relations between the state of Pakistan and the Christian community as a minority In a global perspective, minorities feel by and large pushed to the luminal spaces in the matters of national policymaking. And Pakistan is no exception to this phenomenon. It is a common notion that minorities globally are being marginalised in the policymaking process by the nation-states and Pakistan is no exception to that. It is generally alleged that the State of Pakistan has excluded the Christians from the mainstream decision making bodies and put them at the corner. 3 However, Christians have played a significant role in the creation and consolidation of Pakistan. 4 After the establishment of Pakistan, the Christian community has massively been contributing in all walks of life in Pakistan, but they have the feeling as if the state has excluded the minorities by adopting the exclusionary constitutional means. This paper attempts to understand the state policy towards minorities, particularly the Christians through a process of legislation adopted in the constitutional development of Pakistan, and the response of the Christians to the state policies is also analysed. Still, a few critics maintain that these constitutional safeguards are not enough to grant equal rights to the minorities. Instead, they argue that these measures have converted Christians into a marginalised community in Pakistan. Therefore, it is of immense significance to reevaluate the status of the religious minorities in Pakistan, especially that of Christians. This paper, while looking at the historical perspective, will try to investigate the State's policies towards the Christians and the role of Christians in the making and strengthening of Pakistan. It argues that the State of Pakistan has taken concrete steps towards the democratization of society where no segment of society feels marginalized. The Christians, who are active and vibrant citizens of Pakistan still feel that they have not been given equal opportunities to flourish c in the mainstream politics of Pakistan; hence they feel marginalised.
Pakistaniaat, May 9, 2011
South Asian Studies, 2015
Global political review, Dec 30, 2019
This article explores dynamics of Miss Fatima Jinnah's leadership qualities by applying the Ideat... more This article explores dynamics of Miss Fatima Jinnah's leadership qualities by applying the Ideational approach. The article aims to rethink the scenario of Pakistan at the eve of presidential elections 1965 with regarding populism. It underscores causes, events and consequences of the 1965's Elections by re-contextualizing the views and actions of Miss Jinnah. She won the elections, but a large-scale rigging deprived her of becoming the first lady President of Pakistan and in Islamic World. She did not play an active part in the political arena until the Presidential elections challenging the military dictator. This study attempts to answer why the Mother of the land opted for the politics of resistance; how she took an active part in the election campaign, and what were the implications of her participation in the elections by situating her role in national politics through the theoretical lens of populism.
Global Political Review
The purpose of this study is to make a case study of alliance politics practiced by MQM, a major ... more The purpose of this study is to make a case study of alliance politics practiced by MQM, a major political party in Sindh, which always remained in coalition to become a part of the government. The politics of alliance formation has remained a regular feature of politics in Pakistan since its inception. Several political alliances were formed in order to achieve the goals of power politics. MQM is a political party whose political influence is limited to the urban-based population influencing Urdu speaking mohajir community. From1988 on-wards, MQM formed alliances with different political parties;however, it could not become a national-level political party. It is a qualitative based study conducted to achieve research purposes. The findings suggest that MQM's alliance politics met failure due to multiple factors such as the party's alleged involvement in violence,practicing the politics of ethnicity, and pursuing regional interests rather than national goals. Moreover, unre...
Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) by China has emerged as one of the most important factors in the u... more Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) by China has emerged as one of the most important factors in the upcoming global politics. This plan can impact both regional and global politics. There are multidimensional and multifaceted repercussions of BRI for the international global politics. This paper describes the details of BRI, the micro-plans which are being planned under this program. Then, it enlists the economic and international politics benefits which China would gain from this plan. After that, this paper enumerates the possible benefits of BRI for the regional countries like Pakistan. In addition to that, this paper also highlights the possible global and regional challenges which China might face while completing and getting benefits out of this plan. After conducting a critical analysis of BRI’s trajectory, its possible global and regional repercussions for the emerging international politics, its benefits for China and the possible challenges this paper concludes that no matter ...
This study examines the factors responsible for the creation and rise of Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ).... more This study examines the factors responsible for the creation and rise of Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ). It also explores the process of its transformation from a purely sectarian outfit to a combination of sectarian cum terrorist organization. The research is mostly analytical and comparative and is based mostly on the qualitative research technique. The research finds that protection to sectarian organizations like LeJ by the military establishment and the State’s indifference or only selected operations against it during various regimes had only enhanced its power. However, since the introduction of the National Action Plan, some reasonable and effective measures to eliminate LeJ from its roots have been taken. Still, a lot more is required to get rid of such extremist groups and to revive a culture of religious tolerance in Pakistan.
The purpose of this study is to make a case study of alliance politics practised by MQM, a major ... more The purpose of this study is to make a case study of alliance politics practised by MQM, a major political party in Sindh, which always remained in coalition to become a part of the government. The politics of alliance formation has remained a regular feature of politics in Pakistan since its inception. Several political alliances were formed in order to achieve the goals of power politics. MQM is a political party whose political influence is limited to the urban-based population influencing Urdu speaking mohajir community. From 1988 onwards, MQM formed alliances with different political parties; however, it could not become a national-level political party. It is a qualitative based study conducted to achieve research purposes. The findings suggest that MQM's alliance politics met failure due to multiple factors such as the party's alleged involvement in violence, practising the politics of ethnicity, and pursuing regional interests rather than national goals. Moreover, unrealistic demands from the partners, pursuance of personal agendas and dissent of the state to the party's activities However, it left deep impressions on the national political landscape.
Journal of the Research Society of Pakistan, Jun 30, 2016
Elementary Education Online, 2020
South Asian Studies, 2013
The Charismatic Leader: Quaid-i-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah and the Creation of Pakistan Sikandar Ha... more The Charismatic Leader: Quaid-i-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah and the Creation of Pakistan Sikandar Hayat Oxford University Press, KarachiIntroductionThe figure and personality of the Quaid-i-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah is a fertile area for researchers, for he played a key role in the creation of Pakistan which altered the political map of South Asia and ushered in a new era of freedom struggle in the Muslim world particularly and the world at large. Professor Dr. Sikandar Hayat, an eminent researcher and scholar has written extensively, in national and international research journals, on the Muslim struggle for Independence and especially on the role of Jinnah in the making of Pakistan. The book under review is his recent discourse on the Quaid worth reading and fills the gap in the existing historical research material.The author has applied Max Weber's theory of the 'Charismatic leader' to Quaid-i-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah's leadership of the struggle for the creation of ...
The shamanism is the oldest cult of human being, in Pakistan the Kalasha are the sole people in t... more The shamanism is the oldest cult of human being, in Pakistan the Kalasha are the sole people in the (eastern) Hindu Kush region who have the tradition of shamanism alive though at the last breath. The Kalasha are Indo-Aryan people of Dardic branch and their religion has similarities with the religion of Vedic period. Shaman or dehar is one of the most significant institutions of the community and is the most spiritual in nature. However, for some decades the shamanism due to multiple reasons is towards the decline; impurity is the key reason. Though the Kalasha people does not have any prophet or the divine book therefore the dehar gets more importance which, according to the Kalasha traditions, is a coordinator among his people and the creator through supernatural beings like fairies. Recent times is not good for the community, there is no real dehar for some decades and community is without spiritual leadership.
Pakistan Social Sciences Review, 2020
This study attempts to explore, investigate and analyse causes and consequences of the pliability... more This study attempts to explore, investigate and analyse causes and consequences of the pliability of the cultural heritage of Pakistan which is showing the signs of disappearing on the eve of extremism in Pakistan particularly of the Kalasha by focusing on the Kalasha people. The Kalasha were raided by the Muslims inthe 14 th century. The demarcation of Durand Line (Pak-Afghan border) in 1893 became their lifeline when they fell to the British Indian government while their tribe fellows at the other side of the Pak-Afghan border in Afghanistan were forcefully converted as a whole in 1896. Somehow, the Kalasha of Pakistan were leading their life according to their dastoor (culture & religion) and then military coup of 1977 brought ill-fate for them under pseudo Islamization of military ruler Gen. Zia-ul-Haq. The Talibanization/extremism suppressed the Kalasha indigenous tribe. The event of 9/11 devastatingly hit the tribe for their faith and their strategic location. As reactions and chain reactions of War on Terror many extremists and terrorist groups mushroomed, especially in tribal agencies and in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan recently threatened the Kalasha to convert their faith or to be ready for genocide. The Kalasha people are seeking their survival through their unique identity. They could earn soft image trait for Pakistan, but unfortunately, extremism, terrorism and ill-governance of the state losing it for decades. If the government failed to protect them, we will lose a unique tribe and culture.
Human history is full of many bitter examples of natural calamities which affected mankind with h... more Human history is full of many bitter examples of natural calamities which affected mankind with heavy losses. The COVID-19 pandemic is one of the most disastrous calamities which momentously impacted every sphere of life, especially, higher education and the use of academic libraries. This pandemic instigated the worldwide subsequent lockdown policies imposed by various governments. These policies badly devastated the physical use of the academic libraries. Following the COVID-19 pandemic, the faculty and students who are reliant on the physical use of libraries have badly suffered. This temporary postponement of the in-person operation of libraries has opened up new challenges for the staff of libraries. Though the libraries were closed for the faculty and students, but the library staff decided to adopt digital methods to fulfil the needs of faculty and students. During this pandemic, the trend of digital libraries and resources has emerged. The academic institutions adopted the p...
In 1947, on the eve of Partition of India, a large scale killing, lootings of innocent citizens a... more In 1947, on the eve of Partition of India, a large scale killing, lootings of innocent citizens across the border took place which claimed lives of millions of people. According to an estimate almost more than two million people were killed, and almost another fifteen million, in addition, were forced to migrate from their homes. Much has been written about the communal violence in India, but in most of the literature, the British is blamed for igniting and encouraging disturbance for their imperial designs. In fact, despite British stern actions to address the law and order in India in the dying days of the Raj, the British Government failed to prevent the massacres, especially brutal and widespread in the Punjab, and in the rest of the country in general. The British was blamed for mishandling the communal matters which to some extent were true, but after the lapse of 67 years of partition of India, one can make an objective study of the Punjab disturbances that broke out in 1947....
South Asian Studies, 2018
Sir Mian Fazl-i-Husain, generally speaking, is overlooked by the historians therefore by revisiti... more Sir Mian Fazl-i-Husain, generally speaking, is overlooked by the historians therefore by revisiting the main characteristics of Fazl-i-Husain‟s political leadership, one can have a better understanding of the role of Muslim leadership like that of Mian Fazl-i-Husain in the colonial Punjab. He struggled to free India from the foreign rule as early as possible but he believed that without better understanding and communal harmony among the Muslims, Hindus and the Sikh, this freedom cannot be achieved. Montagu-Chelmsford Reform of 1919 provided the opportunity to those leaders who wished to work under the constitutional umbrella, to achieve independence with peaceful means. The newly enforced Act opened the doors for electoral politics and helped the elected members to join the executive council and to serve their nation as parliamentarians and some as ministers. Thus political vacuum created by the rejection and boycott of the conventional political parties such as the Congress and th...
Pakistan Historical Society. Journal of the Pakistan Historical Society, 2016
(ProQuest: ... denotes non-US-ASCII text omitted.)Those Muslims who supported Gandhi, Nehru and t... more (ProQuest: ... denotes non-US-ASCII text omitted.)Those Muslims who supported Gandhi, Nehru and the All India National Congress but opposed the Muslim League's programme and its Pakistan plan have been termed and also called themselves as 'Nationalist Muslims' and Maulana Azad was probably the leading Nationalist Muslim leader of all India level. One of the foremost leaders of Indian freedom struggle, Maulana joined the All India National Congress in 1920. He believed in a composite Nationalism and thus was against the demand for Pakistan on the basis of two-nation theory. His ideas, efforts and policies as the Congress leader impacted the course of history of the freedom movement, therefore, it is important to inquire about his political thoughts and the role he played in it. Azad was a religious scholar, poet, writer and politician. There are numerous aspects of Maulana Azad's life which already have been examined by many writers in isolation, but hardly any effort has been made to analyze his role in the decade of the 1940s because this was a decisive period in the freedom struggle in British India. While dealing with the basis of arguments used by Maulana Azad in making his case against Pakistan this paper will argue that finally he was convinced of the two-nation theory and, therefore, became the main architect of the Cabinet Mission Plan. In the Cabinet Mission Plan not only the principle of two-nation theory was accepted by the parties concerned, namely the Congress, League, British and Sikhs but also the principle of partition of India was conceded if the Cabinet Mission fails to achieve the standards of Indian Federation within ten years. Many historians have penned about the contributions of Maulana Abul Kalam Azad in the freedom movement but they have not academically analyzed Maulana's role in the endgame of the Raj especially when he was president of the All-India Congress. Therefore, this study will throw light on this aspect of Maulana Azad and will investigate only his response to the two-nation theory and demand for Pakistan.Maulana Azad stood for safeguarding the rights of all the communities in a post-British united India. He was impressed by Congress's political methods and ideology which had left deep imprints on his political psyche. Maulana Azad's stand for a united India eventually clashed with the Muslims' demand for a separate homeland. The Congress policies caused the raising of communal sentiments in marginalized groups and forced them to move towards consolidation of their community's political power on the basis of their primordial sentiments. This paper argues that in the 1940s Maulana Azad though, was not in favour of a separate homeland for Indian Muslims but he finally began to believe in the two-nation theory and that is why he agreed to work upon the Cabinet Mission Plan. He believed that undivided India with provincial autonomy envisaged in the Cabinet Mission Plan was the best package for the Indian Muslims, whereas the creation of India with a strong centre will not be the best alternate to a United Federal India with autonomous provinces.1Maulana's Azad's Political IdeasGandhi initiated the idea of the Non-Cooperation Movement during the Khilafat Movement in 1920 and Maulana Azad supported it strongly because he believed that "now matters have gone beyond memorials and deputations".2 In fact, Azad had also suggested similar programmes3 in his articles published in Al HilalV Though he was elected as the youngest president of the special session of the Congress in Delhi (1923)5 but the whole movement fizzled out when in 1924 Khilafat was abolished in Turkey.Azad supported the Nehru Report in 1928 and as a result of it he had to break ties with the Muslim League and Khilafat Conference.6 He was one of the very few Muslims who supported the Congress demand for complete independence and took part in the Non-cooperation Movement against the British government in 1930-1931. …
Pakistan Historical Society. Journal of the Pakistan Historical Society, 2014
14-16 APRIL, 2014, LAHORE (PAKISTAN)A Three-Day International Conference titled "24th Intern... more 14-16 APRIL, 2014, LAHORE (PAKISTAN)A Three-Day International Conference titled "24th International Pakistan History Conference: History and Historiography of South Asia," was held from 14-16 April, 2014. The venue was the Department of History and Pakistan Studies, University of the Punjab, Lahore.This conference was organized by the Pakistan Historical Society in collaboration with the Department of History and Pakistan Studies and Department of Political Science, University of the Punjab, Lahore.Aims and ObjectivesThe International Conference was arranged with a view to promote the discipline of History by re-visiting the existing literature on the subject of History and Historiography of South Asia.DelegatesMore than 90 National and International scholars participated in the Conference. Of the 22 foreign delegates who participated in the conference and presented their papers, 4 were from England, one from Portugal, one from Canada and sixteen were from India. Of the si...
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Papers by Muhammad Iqbal Chawla