The Rise and Fall of the Left and the Maoist Movements in Pakistan

Ishtiaq Ahmed
Additional contact information
Ishtiaq Ahmed: The author is Professor Emeritus, Department of Political Science, Stockholm University, Stockholm and Visiting Research Professor, Institute of South Asian Studies, National University of Singapore

India Quarterly: A Journal of International Affairs, 2010, vol. 66, issue 3, 251-265

Abstract: Between the late 1960s and early 1970s, Maoist ideas gained considerable popularity and influence in left politics and the labour movement, and made an impact on Pakistani mainstream politics which was out of proportion to its political strength in the overall balance of power. Neither class structure nor the ideological and political composition of the state apparatus warranted any such advantage to Maoism. Clues to it are to be found in the peculiar power game over security and influence going on at that time between several states in that region and, perhaps, more crucially, in the internal political situation surrounding the rise to power of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto (1971–77), his fall, and the coming into power of an Islamist regime under General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq.

Keywords: Pakistan-China rapport; Zulfikar Ali Bhutto’s left populism; Mazdoor Kisan Party; armed struggle; liberated zones; Islamism and repression (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2010
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://iqq.sagepub.com/content/66/3/251.abstract (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:indqtr:v:66:y:2010:i:3:p:251-265

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in India Quarterly: A Journal of International Affairs
Bibliographic data for series maintained by SAGE Publications ().