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Pakistani Nationalism and the State Marginalisation of the Ahmadiyya Community in Pakistan
Author(s) -
Saeed Sadia
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
studies in ethnicity and nationalism
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.204
H-Index - 8
eISSN - 1754-9469
pISSN - 1473-8481
DOI - 10.1111/j.1754-9469.2007.tb00166.x
Subject(s) - state (computer science) , islam , nationalism , citizenship , muslim community , politics , political science , legislation , gender studies , sociology , law , geography , archaeology , algorithm , computer science
This paper examines the relationship between nationalism, state formation, and the marginalisation of national minorities through an historical focus on Pakistani state's relationship with the Ahmadiyya community, a self‐defined minority sect of Islam. In 1974, a constitutional amendment was enacted that effectively rendered the Ahmadiyya community a non‐Muslim minority, in spite of claims by the community that it was Muslim and hence not a minority. This paper attempts to account for this anti‐Ahmadiyya state legislation by arguing that the genealogy of the idea of a Pakistani state is key for understanding the politics of exclusion of the Ahmadiyya community from ‘Muslim citizenship’ ‐ that is, who is and isn't a Muslim.