Will Pakistanis Liberate Themselves From The Rule Of The Military-Mullah Alliance? – OpEd
At the stroke of midnight on 14th and 15th of August 1947, British colonial rule came to an end, and India gained its long-awaited independence—albeit a fragmented one—with the creation of two nations: India and Pakistan.
The partition of India is a product of two-nation theory, rooted in the demands of reactionary religious forces, was enabled and brought to realisation by British colonial powers before their departure. The culturally diverse population of Hindus, Muslims, and other religious communities had lived in harmony for centuries.
However, this communal harmony was disrupted by the Minto–Morley Reforms, also known as the Indian Councils Act of 1909, which institutionalised communalism in India by granting separate electorates to the Muslim population. This division was further deepened by the Government of India Act of 1919 and the MacDonald Award of August 16, 1932, both of which reinforced communal, religious and social electoral boundaries and fuelled the eventual partition of India along religious lines. Thus, the roots of the Hindu-Muslim conflict—and the broader geopolitical tensions between India and Pakistan—can be traced back to the British colonial policy of divide and rule.
After independence, India chose a liberal, secular, and constitutional democratic path, committed to upholding its principle of unity in diversity. In contrast, Pakistan became the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, suppressing the country’s religious, linguistic, cultural, and social diversities. The landed feudal elites in Pakistan seized state power, using religion as a tool of governance, often in collaboration with the military. American imperialism and remnants of European colonialism supported Pakistan’s ruling elites—particularly their alliance of religion and military—to hinder the growth of progressive democracy in the region and to facilitate the continued exploitation of its natural resources. The Military-Mullah nexus that dominates Pakistan today is a product of local feudal structures, British colonial legacy, and American imperial influence. This alliance has militarised the minds of people by providing religious justifications for authoritarianism, thereby stifling the development of civilian democracy, democratic values, and working-class consciousness in the country.
The various forms of terrorism witnessed today—both globally and within Pakistan—are the outcomes of historical, geopolitical, and ideological alliances shaped by local feudal elites and their religious reactionary cronies, European colonialism, and American imperialism. These forces have long worked to subdue the working people of Pakistan and deny them their rightful share of land and resources. Regional, religious, ethnic, and social conflicts are exploited to sustain the hegemony of the ruling class, led by Pakistan’s Military-Mullah alliance, which continues to serve capitalist and imperialist interests in the region.
As the popular saying goes, most countries have an army, but in Pakistan, the army has a country—reflecting the military’s control over national resources and its deep influence on the daily lives of the people. Pakistani military not only controls all economic resources but also its politics in the country. Rich army governs poor people in the name of stability and destroys all productive and creative forces to generate and mobilise resources in the country. Therefore, the struggle for democracy, emancipation, peace, and prosperity in Pakistan ultimately depends on the ability of the working masses to break the grip and dominance of the Military-Mullah alliance and dismantle their reactionary narratives.
The fight for civilian and democratic supremacy in Pakistan hinges on the success of radical and progressive struggles aimed at emancipation from feudalism, neocolonial imperialism, and religious reactionary forces. This struggle, in turn, depends on the rise of class consciousness among the working people. Only through the awakening of working-class consciousness, class organisation, and sustained class struggle can reverse the militarisation of society and dismantling of the dominance of the Military-Mullah alliance.
It is time to reclaim Pakistan’s progressive civilisational legacy through a working-class movement that challenges and defeats feudal landlords, neocolonial powers, and imperialist jingoists. The emancipation of the Pakistani working class and the future of the country depends on its ability to confront and overcome these reactionary forces—forces that perpetuate war, terrorism, and conflict to maintain their hegemony over the people and the country’s resources. The victory of the working-class struggle in Pakistan is essential to advancing emancipatory politics, establishing lasting peace, fostering prosperity, strengthening democracy, and securing egalitarian citizenship rights for all. Long live working-class struggle for the peaceful, progressive and prosperous future of Pakistan.
