The Identity Crisis in Pakistan: From Sapt Sindhu to a Global Centre of Terrorism

Abstract

This research paper analyses Pakistan’s ongoing identity crisis, arguing that the nation’s political and security instability originates from a deliberate break with its indigenous historical and geographical foundations. The study traces the region’s transformation from SaptSindhu, the cradle of the Indus Valley Civilisation and the Vedic era, which together form the civilizational basis of Akhand Bharat (Undivided India). These traditions established a pluralistic cultural and philosophical ethos that has shaped the region’s social continuity for millennia.

The study contends that following 1947, the adoption of the “Two-Nation Theory,” which defined nationhood solely by religion, led Pakistan to reject its composite heritage in favour of an externally imposed Arab-Persian-Islamic identity. This shift erased local histories, languages, and cultural memory, hindering the formation of a territorially grounded national consciousness. The resulting ideological void was filled by state-sponsored Islamization and the strategic use of jihad to achieve internal cohesion and external policy objectives.

The paper further explores how this trajectory gradually transformed a region with a significant civilizational legacy into one characterised by persistent instability, thereby creating conditions conducive to militancy, radicalisation, and the emergence of Pakistan as a central actor within the global network of terrorism (Pervez, 2021).