The Rise of Religious Politics in Pakistan: A Case Study of October 2002 Elections in the NWFP (KP)

Abstract

The impressive gains of the six-piece religious party alliance, the MMA
(Muttahida Majlis-i-Aml), in October 2002 Elections in Pakistan represent a mass
mobilization in the name of Islam on a scale not seen since the creation of
Pakistan. The theory of ‘Islam in danger' was raised both against foreign, i.e.,
American neo-imperialism and against what were seen as ‘un-Islamic forces’
within the society. The concept of political Islam and its manipulation by the
Isalmists stirred the political will of the masses. October 2002 polls marks the
ever first time experience of the NWFP (now Khyber Pakhtunkhwa), at least in
the post-independence period, where a pre-electoral religio-political parties’
alliance (the MMA) ruled the province with apparently no threat from the central
government. The replacement of political forces/parties in certain regions
(dominating by them since 1937) with relatively inexperienced religious leaders,
unexposed to modern western education required the attention of all the
stakeholders, including the international actors, now very active in the region. In
this paper, we try to look into and analyse religion, politics and ethnicity with
particular reference to the causes of and factors for the success of the MMA in
the Pakthtun dominated areas in Pakistan.