A Critical Discourse Analysis of Pakistan’s Counter-Narrative: Paigham-e-Pakistan

Abstract

Prevent violent extremism and counter violent extremism studies have lately taken the much-debated narrative turn. This narrative turn reflects the increasing engagement with the psychological and ideological aspects, and subsequently with narratives of extremism and terrorism, in order to curb the increase in the numbers of those who overtly and covertly support them. The central tenets of this narrative turn rest on the praxes geared at the delegitimization and demystification of extremist narratives, through their deconstruction. Such praxes have been necessitated by the visible deficiency in the prevention of violent extremist/terrorist tendencies despite the augmentation in (hard) kinetic measures. While the ideologies and narratives of violent extremism /terrorism have been increasingly subjected to deconstructive and critical inquires separately, the present research makes an argument for combining these two approaches via a systematic, multilevel framework, and applying this to the study of counter-narratives and ideologies. This research stresses this in light of the lack of scholarly inquiry into the counter-narratives established in resistance to extremist/terrorist narratives. It is argued that this remains an important task, considering the diversity of the contexts, which these counter-narratives attempt to address and redress, and the lack of appropriate mechanisms to ascertain their efficacy. In this light, this research explicates the counter-narrative of Pakistan-the Paigham-e-Pakistan (PeP)- by situating it within the broader prevent violent extremism and counter violent extremism discourse of the country. It adopts a combination of a Deconstructive approach, and a multi-level, micro-meso-macro Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) framework to inform an ‘explanatory critique,’ which tests the PeP for textual and contextual validity. The focus of the vi research will be both within and outside the text during its course. In working together with CDA, the Deconstructive approach will assist in explicating how the PeP acts as a site of social struggle, and how entities/events/processes have been continuously (re)constructed through discourse, as social practice. The research therefore explores not only the asymmetrical power-relations that have gone into shaping the PeP, but also how the PeP itself manifests and projects similarly dominant and unequal representations of the ideal Pakistani (Muslim) citizen and State. This exercise aims to unveil the text’s limitations in the face of multiple interpretations and diverse contexts, in order to open up space for its improvement. Keywords: Counter-Narrative, Paigham-e-Pakistan, Critical Discourse Analysis, Deconstructive approach, Micro-meso-macro framework.