Constructing Pakistan - Introduction

The secular nationalist elite, however, developed a particular language of politics. For them, learning the language of the 'enlightenment' was the only way to reach British rationality, and their legitimacy depended upon the degree of fluidity and prestige accorded to them by the colonial system. Only then could they speak of the material advantages of flirting with the so-called infidel power. This development of a political language also involved developing the concept of the 'other' within the language of Muslim politics. Muslims had to be defined as different from their Hindu counterparts, their needs represented as special. The questions of quotas, separate electorates, and eventually a separate country were all based on a Muslim identity articulate in difference from the Hindus and not from the British.