SATA I feel that the Pakistani leadership failed to understand the value of sub-nationalism, and instead tried to use puritan Islam to keep the state united.
The focus on one religion, one language backfired as most Pakistanis are steeped in their local culture and didn't appreciate the foisting of wahhabi-inspired religious ideas.
But there are other factors involved as well such as the two western states of Balochistan and NWFP which failed to integrate with the Pakistani political framework, as the famously independent-minded tribes didn't accept what they saw as a foreign imposition.
Perhaps the biggest blow was the separation of Bangladesh, which I think triggered the rise of Zia-inspired fundamentalism in Pakistan as a desperate measure to hold the state together. Before the war of 1971, Pakistan was a lot more moderate.
The focus on one religion, one language backfired as most Pakistanis are steeped in their local culture and didn't appreciate the foisting of wahhabi-inspired religious ideas.
But there are other factors involved as well such as the two western states of Balochistan and NWFP which failed to integrate with the Pakistani political framework, as the famously independent-minded tribes didn't accept what they saw as a foreign imposition.
Perhaps the biggest blow was the separation of Bangladesh, which I think triggered the rise of Zia-inspired fundamentalism in Pakistan as a desperate measure to hold the state together. Before the war of 1971, Pakistan was a lot more moderate.