Untouchability, caste, and the electorate: Revisiting legacies of the Poona Pact in Pakistan

Abstract

Soon after partition, Pakistan proposed separate electorates for religious minorities, including the Scheduled Castes (SC), with hopes of establishing an Islamic democracy. This article analyses the Pakistani state’s efforts to give distinct electorates to SC, which resulted in the retention of caste as a constitutional category, primarily among ‘Hindus’. It also looks on East Pakistani politicians' unwillingness to bridge political divides in the early years of Pakistan's history. By drawing on fresh archival sources, this exploration sheds insight on the shift/transformation in East Pakistan’s conceptualisation of the nation immediately following the partition. It argues that the colonial classifications of majority, minority, caste and SC were maintained by the post-colonial state for nation-building programmes and power politics. East Pakistani leaders, on the other hand, repudiated this continuity as they sought to oppose West Pakistan's political dominance. This article also demonstrates that there is a historical discontinuity between the post-partition and the contemporary politics of the Scheduled Castes in Pakistan.