Questioning Migrants

The Muhajir Qaumi Movement (MQM) propelled by ethnic violence and led by university students with lower-middle-class backgrounds transformed the cities of the southern Pakistani province of Sindh into an ethnic majoritarian stronghold at the unlikely height of a military dictatorship. The more novelaspect of the MQM''''s platform was it demand for the recognition of Muhajirs as a separate ''''oppressed nationality'''' within Pakistan. Questioning Migrants is a granular historical and ethographic study of the MQM''''s capacity to think beyond the exlusivism of Muhajir nationalism toward its contingency and toward a more plural and subaltern framing of the universal. It speaks to significant themes in Pakistan Studies: the legacies of Partition the rise of the martial state and the dynamics of urbanization and democracy.