Abstract
This paper looks at the paradoxical creation of a Muslim minority by the Pakistani state to cast a light on the processes of secularism, citizenship and minoritization. The paper argues that contrary to the concerns articulated in academic debates about citizenship and minorities, it is in fact the majority that is managed most assiduously. Critically, these debates assume readymade groupings; this paper discusses how the creation of both a minority and a majority is an ongoing, fractured process. The creation of a minority group, the Ahmadiyya, from within the putative Muslim majority by the state in Pakistan, is thus a useful prism through which to understand the ways in which a specific kind of citizen has been created in Pakistan, one who is increasingly impatient with the idea of doctrinal difference even as she is confronted by a proliferation of different Islams in everyday life.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 1013 - 1028 |
| Number of pages | 16 |
| Journal | Citizenship Studies |
| Volume | 16 |
| Issue number | 8 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 2012 |