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Accepted Paper:

Popular movements and the uneven geography of opposition in Punjab  
Hassan Javid (Lahore University of Management Sciences)

Paper short abstract:

Through a comparison of the anti-Ayub and anti-Musharraf movements in Pakistan, this papers attempts to answer two question; what are the constraints on rural mobilisation in Punjab, and what underpins the enduring disconnect between urban and rural protest in Punjab.

Paper long abstract:

Like the anti-Ayub movement of 1968, the movement that ended the Musharraf government in 2007-08 was a predominantly urban one. Bringing together lawyers, students, professionals, and main political parties, its focus remained centred around Pakistan's major cities and towns. Successful as the movement was, it lacked links to the countryside; to the extent that agrarian interests were represented, they were those of the traditional landed elite embedded within the political party system.

Despite the persistence of rural poverty and inequality, movements in rural Punjab remain notable for their absence. While there are exceptions to this, such as the mobilization on the military farms of Okara, they have tended to be sporadic. This is in contrast with urban Punjab, where protests against the government remain routine. This paper will examine two main questions; what are the constraints on rural mobilisation in Punjab, and what underpins the continuing disconnect between urban and rural protest. By comparing the anti-Ayub and anti-Musharraf movements, it will be shown that it is the historically reinforced mechanisms underlying the control of landowning elites in the countryside that continue to undermine popular rural participation both within and outside the formal, institutionalised arena of politics, and that the uneven geography of resistance in Punjab is reflective of an inability on the part of urban actors to overcome these barriers to entry in rural politics. In this context, cases like Okara assume even greater significance as they illustrate the circumstances and strategies that contribute towards overcoming the constraints to rural resistance in Punjab.

Panel P10
Rural poverty, inequality and contemporary social mobilisation
  Session 1