Dynamism of Pakistan's Civil Society: Religious-Secular Rivalry and its Resources

Pakistan's is often described as week polity because of its poor democratic credentials. Civil society in Pakistan is divided along modern-secular and traditional-religious lines. The conflict between the two segments of civil society manifests itself in many shapes and directions because of their opposing ideologies, campaigns and world-views. This conflict is deeply rooted in socio-political history of Pakistan and continues to grow multifold. This study is an attempt to root-out the origins and causes of this conflict and to show the dynamism of Pakistan's civil society as it evolved. State has increased its power at the expense of civil society and the non-representative power centers control the reins of society and politics. Conditions required to create and sustain a Western kind of civil society are either missing or very different in Pakistan's case, therefore the Western expectations of creation of democracy, pluralism and openness remain unfulfilled. I propose in this study that local conditions, regional and international scenario and the struggle between the traditional power centers and the new power contenders define and shape the civil society in Pakistan and create a dynamic scenario.