Questioning Migrants
Ethnic Nationalism at the Limits of Pakistan

A historical ethnography of the MQM's capacity to think beyond Muhajir nationalism's exclusivism and toward a plural, subaltern universal.

Tahir H. Naqvi (Author)

9781009492300, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 23 January 2025

224 pages
23.5 x 15.9 x 1.9 cm, 0.49 kg

'The trajectory of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), previously the Muhajir Qaumi Movement, is surely an object lesson for our fractured present of nations and nationalisms that operate exclusively through self-authorization. This book is highly recommended reading for those interested in the state of Pakistan, South Asia, and indeed the world.' Naveeda Khan, Johns Hopkins University

The Muhajir Qaumi Movement (MQM), propelled by ethnic violence and led by university students with lower-middle-class backgrounds, transformed the cities of the southern Pakistani province of Sindh into an ethnic majoritarian stronghold at the unlikely height of a military dictatorship. The more novelaspect of the MQM's platform was it demand for the recognition of Muhajirs as a separate, 'oppressed nationality' within Pakistan. Questioning Migrants is a granular historical and ethographic study of the MQM's capacity to think beyond the exlusivism of Muhajir nationalism toward its contingency and toward a more plural and subaltern framing of the universal. It speaks to significant themes in Pakistan Studies: the legacies of Partition, the rise of the martial state, and the dynamics of urbanization and democracy.

List of Figures
Preface
Acknowledgements
Notes on Translation, Transliteration, and Abbreviations
Introduction
Part I. Prelude: 'This is Pakistan'
1. Regulating the Unthinkable: Violence, Migration and the Making of the State
2. Concerning Voluntary Migrants
3. After Hijrat: The Urban and Subjective Terrain of Settlement
4. The One, Divisible
Part II. Prelude: Ilaqa Ghair – Sensing Urban Violence/Becoming a Nation
5. The 'Rise' of the MQM: Urban Non-elite Citizens and the Space of Martial Rule
6. Questioning Muslim Nationalism
Conclusion
Bibliography
Index.

Subject Areas: Social & cultural anthropology, ethnography [JHMC]