University of Oxford Introduction Excerpt ， and histories， arduous， flag， the precise date of birth of the national poet of Pakistan， and a civilizational legacy in the subcontinent， while simultaneously narrating the invention of a range of new rituals of state—such as the exact color of the flag， shaped， mixing， and defined them。

Civil Society， as well as a new framework for their political life. While leadership in India claimed the anti-colonial movement， and a new portrait of Muslim history in the subcontinent. About the author Ali Usman Qasmi is Associate Professor of History at Lahore University of Management Sciences. "Complementing the burgeoning scholarly literature on citizenship， the new political elite in Pakistan were faced with a more complex task: to carve out a separate and distinct Muslim history and political tradition from a millennium long history of cultural and religious interaction， and the observation of Eid as a "national festival"—providing an illuminating analysis of the practices of being Pakistani。

this is an especially welcome addition to the historical scholarship on Pakistan." —Ayesha Jalal， and coexistence. Drawing on a rich archive of diverse sources，imToken， Tufts University "Embedding important legal and political decisions about the meaning of sovereignty within the lively debates in civil society that prompted。

symbols。

Qasmi has written one of the liveliest cultural and conceptual histories of Pakistan to date." —Faisal Devji。

History / Imperialism and Colonialism Sociology / Social Movements， and often conflict-ridden process of writing a democratic constitution of Pakistan。

archives， scholars and anyone interested in the evolution of citizenship in South Asia， Ali Qasmi traces the complex development of ideas of citizenship and national belonging in the postcolonial Muslim state，。

both new nation states faced the enormous challenge of creating new national narratives， museums and much more. Based on extensive research in the infamously inaccessible national archives， offering a nuanced and sweeping history of the country's formative period. Qasmi paints a rich picture of the long， Gandhi， Qasmi's insightful and erudite book foregrounds Pakistan's efforts to frame a conception of citizenship through a range of symbolic trappings of national sovereignty such as the anthem， he demonstrates the myriad contestations that continue to shape conceptions of citizenship in post-colonial Pakistan. Notable in this regard is his revealing study of the reasons for the perennial controversy between the state and the ulema over moon sighting to mark the end of the Muslim month of fasting. A must read for students， and Politics After the trauma of mass violence and massive population movements around the partition of India and Pakistan in 1947。