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The Politics of the Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam Pakistan 1971-1977
The ulema claim that they stand for an Islamic system of government based on the pattern of the caliphate. This book attempts to analyze this claim by comparing the performance of the religious parties, particularly the JUI with socialist, and centrist parties in national politics.
- GenresPakistan
352 pages, Hardcover
First published October 26, 2000
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January 15, 2015
To the best of my knowledge this is the only English-language book-length study of the Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam in Pakistan (I'd be happy to accept pointers to other sources). It is unfortunately not very useful. The JUIP is a clerical party premised on the notion that religious elites have some special quality that merits their election to positions of leadership, but this book barely delves below the top level statements of various faction leaders to examine party structure or support bases that might allow for more generalizable insights.
The book primarily focuses on the 1971-77 period, although the party's origins in British Indian clerical organizations and debate over the question of Pakistan's foundation is discussed to some extent. Unfortunately the more contemporary factional divisions within the JUI (primarily Fazlur Rehman and Sami-ul Haq) are not touched in this history.
Critical analysis of the party's professed goals only comes at the very end, in a brief conclusion that concludes the party allied with anyone and everyone at one point or another in bids for political power. This is not reflected in the bulk of the book text, which when not listing conference attendees devotes many pages to recounting the various utopian Islamic political manifestos put forward by the party. The book is principally a recounting of leadership statements and interactions with other political actors, which prevents it from offering much macro-level analysis of how the JUIP acted as a spoiler or wedge organization within the broader Pakistani political context.
The structure and language is circuitous, often going for several pages before it becomes apparent that the author is intending to convey the views of others, not his own analysis; the historiography is sometimes rather questionable and features a number of barbs directed at other scholars' work. The main point of interest for anyone who is not a Pakistan bibliography completionist may be the echoes of contemporary Pakistani political crises in this earlier time period - which saw the PPP loosening controls on the use of the security services through the 3th Amendment, echoed by the PML-N today with the 2014 Protection of Pakistan act; and then as now the 1977 political crisis led to all actors turning to the army as a mediator. Still, there are probably better early Pakistan history books for this.
This book might have some value as a primary research source - there are fairly extensive annexes of letters from some of the JUI leaders - but it leaves a lot to be desired as an analytic guide to the intersection between Pakistani religious and political organizations.
The book primarily focuses on the 1971-77 period, although the party's origins in British Indian clerical organizations and debate over the question of Pakistan's foundation is discussed to some extent. Unfortunately the more contemporary factional divisions within the JUI (primarily Fazlur Rehman and Sami-ul Haq) are not touched in this history.
Critical analysis of the party's professed goals only comes at the very end, in a brief conclusion that concludes the party allied with anyone and everyone at one point or another in bids for political power. This is not reflected in the bulk of the book text, which when not listing conference attendees devotes many pages to recounting the various utopian Islamic political manifestos put forward by the party. The book is principally a recounting of leadership statements and interactions with other political actors, which prevents it from offering much macro-level analysis of how the JUIP acted as a spoiler or wedge organization within the broader Pakistani political context.
The structure and language is circuitous, often going for several pages before it becomes apparent that the author is intending to convey the views of others, not his own analysis; the historiography is sometimes rather questionable and features a number of barbs directed at other scholars' work. The main point of interest for anyone who is not a Pakistan bibliography completionist may be the echoes of contemporary Pakistani political crises in this earlier time period - which saw the PPP loosening controls on the use of the security services through the 3th Amendment, echoed by the PML-N today with the 2014 Protection of Pakistan act; and then as now the 1977 political crisis led to all actors turning to the army as a mediator. Still, there are probably better early Pakistan history books for this.
This book might have some value as a primary research source - there are fairly extensive annexes of letters from some of the JUI leaders - but it leaves a lot to be desired as an analytic guide to the intersection between Pakistani religious and political organizations.
Displaying 1 of 1 review