Civil society is perhaps the most misinterpreted term in the context of Pakistan. In recent years, it has come to be defined loosely and used interchangeably for leftists, liberals, and more particularly NGOs. Since people generally do not have a correct understanding of what ideally constitutes civil society, they tend to form opinion based on this misinterpretation of the term.
Some who claim to know the academic roots of the term judge the civil society in Pakistan according to the theoretical yardstick and "classical definitions", without going into this country’s peculiar context.
By and large, people have a negative view of their version of ‘civil society’ which is held as a monolith, is said to have reinforced depoliticisation, worked against democracy, served global capitalism, and divided the Pakistani society, etc., etc.
In today’s Special Report, we have tried to improve the understanding on this "consistently marginalised and vigorously maligned civil society" in the words of I.A. Rehman.
The scope of the term is incredibly wide and as Haris Gazdar tells in his interview "there are several civil societies in Pakistan and not one… There is probably an Islamist civil society, and a secular civil society, and even various ethnic civil societies…" In response to another question he even mentions a "military civil society" and goes on to say how "the security state is unable to protect its own ‘civil’ society…"
Gazdar’s claim that the left civil society "was systematically demolished" under the Zia regime along with the help of Jamaat-e-Islami is taken up in greater detail by I.A Rehman. In his article, he explains the history of civil society’s efforts against anti-democracy tendencies. All those who have had any confusion in their minds must read this to know civil society’s actual contribution.
Rubina Saigol focuses on the classical definitions and how the idea has been reduced to non-government, community-based and faith-based organisations in the case of Pakistan, though she thinks it is after all a contested idea that does not necessarily and of itself promote "democracy and good governance".
This is a vast subject and we have not been able to touch all aspects but we still hope that this Special Report manages to remove some confusion in people’s minds and they can justifiably claim their "democratic entitlements" with a sense of pride.