Any discussion of Islamic fundamentalism in today's Pakistan must be seen within a more general context typical of many modern Muslim states trying to develop their independent political, social and economic structures within the guidelines left to them on one hand by the traditional tenets of the Islamic faith and on the other hand by the much more recent legacy of Western colonialism. What is, or rather, what should be, in the final analysis, a modern Muslim state? Nowhere in the Muslim world would a policy which tries to imitate blindly the Western model be successful. On the other hand, an equally blind attempt at returning to a supposedly pure pre-colonial Islamic system would find a host of resistances within society--and would create no few enemies abroad.
Pakistan is considered by all standards a moderate Muslim state, and its present leader tries very hard to confirm this public image. "Pakistan is the archetype of [Muslims'] progressive tomorrow--of economic liberalization and commitment to human rights and democracy in an open Islamic society," Prime Minister Benadir Bhutto said in a speech at the School of Advanced International Studies of Johns Hopkins University in Washington D.C., on the occasion of her recent trip to the United States (Kempster, 1995, p. A8). It is important to understand what Bhutto means by this declaration, why she utters it and whether, or at least how far, it corresponds to the truth. But, in order to answer these questions, one needs to illustrate the historical background against which she came to power -- the second time in three years -- on October 19, 1993.
In its brief history as an independent state since 1947 up until the early 1990s, Pakistan has seen a succession of numerous political personalities and yet not a genuine transformation. As Professor Lawrence Ziring underlines in his article "The Second Stage of Pakistani Politics": "A definite sameness prevailed; the call alw...