Activism of the Puritans: The Politics of Majlis-i-Ahrar

Abstract

Right from the outset, Pakistan was taken hostage by a particularistic style of historical discourse that is not only one dimensional but also monolithic and monocausal. The viewpoint that assumed centrality in Pakistani historiography emanates from the ideological framework that is absolutely Muslim League specific. In such a political scenario, the dissenting movements and parties like Khudai Khidmatgar Movement in N.W.F.P., Jeeya Sindh in Sindh, Awami League in East Bengal and Unionists and Ahrar in the Punjab hardly had any space to operate, or the ideals they adhered found enough accommodation. All of them were hurled to the peripheries after Pakistan came into existence while the Muslim League emerged as the sole champion of the freedom movement. In a bid to consign all such parties with anti-colonial posture to the position of utter marginality, postcolonial state also denounced them as traitors of Islam and Pakistan. The reason for doing so was straight and simple: the ruling elite of newly found state was mostly the remnants of colonial era and their interests could be in jeopardy if such organizations were allowed to enter the mainstream of Pakistani politics. Ruling out the possibility of any alternative voice in the realm of political history, the dominant discourse created very many silent spaces that subsequently came to be an established feature of the Pakistani state