Intra-ethnic fissures in ethnic movements: the rise of Mohajir identity politics in post-1971 Pakistan

The article charts the rise of Mohajir identity politics in Pakistan since 1971. Most accounts of Mohajir identity politics have focused mainly on one actor, that is, the Mohajir (now Muttahida) Qaumi Movement and their politics and secondly, have remained silent on intra-ethnic fissures within the Mohajir community. The present article builds on and criticises such accounts for their partiality and presents a more nuanced understanding of politics within the Mohajir community. On the theoretical plane, it criticises modernist and primordialist accounts of ethnicity and nationalism, both of which portray a homogenous picture of ethnic groups as based on unity and shared aims. It is shown that unity and shared aims are at best, a chimera, and that intra-ethnic fissure is as important to understand as is inter-ethnic conflict when it comes to analysing ethnic movements.