Foreign Policy Doctrines of Islamist Organisations in Pakistan (Late 1940s – Early 1970s) within the Context of Islamic Perception of International Law

Abstract

The article analyses the specifics of how Pakistani Islamists define the guidelines and aims of State’s foreign policy. It is during the initial period of Pakistan’s existence, scrutinized by the authors, that the basis for this vision was laid: at that time the Islamists were urged to form their own perception of Pakistan’s role and position in the world, as well as to transmit their attitude towards the official foreign policy of the Pakistani government. Since both these tasks were being accomplished in consonance with Islamic norms, the current study involves a general review of respective doctrines and demonstrates how they were interpreted within the Pakistani context. The article also provides evidence that at this stage there came into existence specific factors within Pakistan which influenced the Islamists’ worldview – including the matters of foreign policy. The main factors of this kind, laid out in the article, are the following: firstly, the attitude of the State government towards the Islamists and the level of their access to power; secondly, the place of “Islamic theme” within the foreign policy promoted by the State. Created as a Muslim state, Pakistan from the very beginning faced the need to define the role of Islam in policymaking – the task that considerably affected both domestic and foreign policy, complicating inter-State relations. Detailed study of the established points determines under which circumstances Pakistani Islamists developed their views of foreign policy and to what extent these views came in harmony with dogmatic Islamic perception of International Law.