Pakistan Awami Tehreek and Its Role in Pakistani Politics

Abstract

Dr. Tahirul Qadri, a well-known Islamic scholar, created the Pakistan Awami Tehrik (PAT) in 1989.The Bravelvi school of thought, which is the predominant sect in Pakistan, is deeply ingrained in the party's membership. The party's founder and chairman publicly identifies as a devout Bravelvi.The Bravelvi school of thought was represented by the pre-existing religious political parties, which greatly despised the creation of PAT.It was said that Dr. Qadri intended to split the Bravelvies and that the new party would make them less powerful politically. For various reasons, PAT was also rejected by the other religious political parties.The PAT gained notoriety in 2012 when its employees convened for a dharna in Islamabad. Pat’s motto was Siaysat nahe Riasat Bachao, which means "save the country and not the politics."A new political structure was required by the party.The PPP government was worried by the PAT's use of the capital system.Once more, the party organized its workers nationwide and staged a large sit-in in Islamabad. The Nawaz Shareef government was shaken by the several-day-long dharna.
Pakistan Awami Tehreek stands out in Pakistani and comparative politics as a reform-oriented, religiously driven movement that has faced structural electoral challenges but has significantly influenced public discourse through grassroots organizing and normative critiques of the political system. Examining PAT provides valuable insights about the relationship between democratic agency, protest, and religion in a dynamic and divisive political landscape.In Pakistan's political academia, the influence of non-mainstream political actors on political discourse has not gotten much empirical attention. Despite having a small electoral representation, the Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) has managed to stay visible through religious identity, protest politics, and leadership-driven mobilization. There is a void in the systematic, theory-driven investigation of these movements' political influence because the majority of existing research look at them descriptively. In order to close this gap, the current study explores the role of Pakistan Awami Tehreek in Pakistani politics by looking at how street mobilization, protest politics, charismatic leadership, and religious ideology based on Barelvi identity affect the organization's total political influence.
The empirical findings show that the political influence of PAT is positively and statistically significantly correlated with all three independent variables (p < 0.05). The strongest predictors were found to be charismatic authority and leadership, followed by street mobilization and protest politics. Religious ideology also had a significant impact. These results demonstrate that non-electoral procedures, not parliamentary participation, are the main drivers of PAT's political relevance.
By providing an empirical, variable-based explanation of non-electoral political impact in a hybrid democratic setting, this work adds to the body of literature. By identifying other avenues for political engagement, promoting evidence-based decision-making, and expanding knowledge of religiously informed political movements in Pakistan, the findings have significant ramifications for academics, decision-makers, and civil society.