This paragraph addresses the unique pathways to grassroots governance modernization in postcolonial states, noting that the "civil society" theory based on Western European experience struggles to explain governance practices in Eastern societies. The author introduces Indian scholar Partha Chatterjee's "political society" theory as an alternative analytical framework, emphasizing the need to understand interactions between subaltern groups and the state from indigenous perspectives. The chapter uses Pakistan as a case study to illustrate how the country creatively transformed Sufi cultural tradition—a traditional authority system—into a resource for state governance, rather than treating it as an obstacle to modernization. The author reviews existing foreign scholarship on Pakistani Sufism, pointing out that current research focuses predominantly on intellectual and cultural dimensions while lacking in-depth analysis of its institutional incorporation into modern governance systems. Based on this, the article employs diverse materials including government archives, field investigations, and media reports to systematically present the policy evolution surrounding Sufi traditional resources since Pakistan's founding, with particular attention to the mechanisms through which the state embeds traditional culture into grassroots governance via institutional arrangements, aiming to provide new analytical perspectives for Global South countries seeking creative transformation of traditional resources and emancipation from singular Western theoretical frameworks.

I. Pakistan's Traditional Social Structure and Grassroots Governance Traditions

The historical roots of Pakistan's "weak state, strong society" regime form after independence. At the social structure level, the country perpetuated South Asia's long-accumulated grassroots autonomy tradition: villages served as basic political units, clans and patronage relations constituted social networks, and individuals formed powerful biradari (kinship community) bonds through consanguineous marriages, resulting in overlapping clan, regional, and ethnic identities that rendered unified ideological mobilization difficult. At the grassroots governance level, local governance networks centered on Sufi culture long played a dominant role, with their trinity structure of "symbolic authority—economic resource management—local governance dominance" specifically manifested as: Sufi spiritual leaders formed hereditary "pir-murid" (elder-disciple) authority through sacred status; shrines obtained economic resources through devotee charity, land grants, and religious endowments, converting these into welfare redistribution and public services; successive rulers granted land and privileges in exchange for grassroots control, while British colonizers further strengthened local authority through legislation and isolated urban-rural connections. This postcolonial structure, superimposing modern state forms, colonial governance legacies, and traditional social foundations, constituted the historical starting point for Pakistan's subsequent institutionalized mobilization of Sufi cultural resources.

II. Institutional Transformation of Traditional Resources: Pakistan's Governance Innovation Regarding Sufi Cultural Traditions

This section examines how the Pakistani government incorporated Sufi cultural traditions into the modern state governance system through institutional means, achieving synergy between traditional resources and state capacity building. At the discursive reconstruction level, the Ayub Khan government proposed a new discourse system emphasizing that individuals could directly approach truth through piety without intermediaries, transforming the traditional vertical "pir-murid" dependency relationship into spiritual autonomy and political agency, thereby laying groundwork for direct contractual relations between citizens and the state. At the value reshaping level, the government molded modernized images of Sufi saints through pamphlets and leaders' speeches, depicting Sachal Sarmast as an open exemplar transcending caste and faith differences to promote human solidarity, emphasizing Sufi scholars' educational backgrounds and rational values, and guiding popular attitudes toward modern technology, gradually shifting local identity toward national identity. At the functional transformation level, facing extremist proliferation and international counterterrorism pressures in the early 21st century, the Musharraf government established the National Council for Sufi Affairs, funding festivals, international conferences, and other activities to promote "peace, love, and tolerance" ideals, making traditional culture a symbol of the "war on terror"—both dissolving extremist tendencies domestically and improving national image and securing international support externally. At the authority reconstruction level, the government integrated localized Sufi images into unified "national" narratives through official propaganda, constructing common myths to strengthen national identity; simultaneously emphasizing historical figures' "deep engagement with the masses," converting traditional authority into social mobilization forces, and incorporating shrine resources into administrative management frameworks through institutions such as the Ministry of Religious Affairs, weakening local forces' exclusive dominance and providing institutional conditions for embedding grassroots public services, thereby transforming traditional spaces into governable resources deployable by the state.

III. Institutionalization of Spatial Governance: Pakistan's Management Practices Regarding Sufi Shrines

This section examines the practical pathways through which the Pakistani government incorporated Sufi shrines into state management systems through institutional means. Between 1959 and 1976, Pakistan successively established the Ministry of Religious Affairs and promulgated series of ordinances, unifying management of dispersed shrine resources and severing local authorities' control over economic resources, establishing legal foundations for government-led shrine affairs. Regarding festival activities, the government gradually shifted from cultural participation to ritual dominance, elevating local festivals to national cultural events through senior officials presiding over ceremonies, upgraded media strategies, and integrating festivals with national development agendas, strengthening state presence in traditional cultural domains. Regarding social function expansion, successive governments promoted shrine transformation from pure ritual sites to hybrid public service platforms, successively establishing schools, research centers, libraries, hospitals, and other educational and medical facilities, and hosting agricultural and industrial exhibitions during festivals to promote rural economic modernization. These measures, while weakening traditional local influence, objectively enabled shrines to assume grassroots education, medical, and welfare provision functions, partially compensating for governance supply gaps caused by limited fiscal resources and weak administrative capacity, providing practical experience for postcolonial developing countries to achieve governance resource下沉 through indigenous cultural spaces.

IV. Pakistan's Indigenous Governance Mechanism for Integrating Sufi Cultural Traditions

This section addresses three indigenous characteristics of Pakistan's institutionalized transformation of Sufi cultural resources in the postcolonial context. At the ideological level, the state transformed dependency relations into new identity structures through reconstructing traditional discourse, exemplified by Ayub Khan's reshaping of "scholarly" Sufi authority to fuse traditional and national identities. At the institutional level, the Ministry of Religious Affairs and ordinance system incorporated dispersed shrine resources into unified management, achieving symbolic capital integration through measures such as nationalization of local festivals. At the functional level, the government promoted shrine transformation into education, medical, and cultural centers, making them important nodes for state governance下沉 to the grassroots, achieving mutual enhancement between traditional social functions and modern administrative efficacy.

This section addresses the dynamic balance mechanism between central authority and local forces. The state adopted creative transformation strategies rather than simple abolition, reconstructing narratives, shaping images, and adjusting social functions through three pathways—symbolic capital nationalization, soft governance methods, and institutionalized control—making traditional resources serve state-building. This approach of soft adaptation instead of comprehensive abolition essentially constituted a rewriting of the colonial "indirect rule" model, forming new power balances between center and locality.

This section examines the adaptation and reconstruction of traditional political culture and its significance in transcending Western-centric perspectives. The Pakistani experience demonstrates that tradition is not an obstacle to modernization; examples including Indonesia's "Pancasila" framework, Southeast Asian patronage systems, and African chiefdoms collectively show that postcolonial states universally adopt creative governance strategies based on traditional resources. Traditional culture possesses "dynamic activation" characteristics, capable of being remobilized and endowed with new functions, providing new perspectives for contemplating modernization pathways in Global South countries.

V. Conclusion

This section addresses how Pakistan, as a postcolonial developing country, demonstrated institutional resilience and creativity through institutionalized mobilization of Sufi cultural traditions in grassroots governance modernization. Successive governments established the Ministry of Religious Affairs and National Council for Sufi Affairs, incorporating dispersed Sufi shrines into official management systems and providing institutional reinterpretations of traditional cultural discourses and local authority, both preserving traditional influence and creating new alignments with state-building and national identity. This governance model provides an operational buffering mechanism for state-society relations, though its effectiveness is constrained by domestic politics, regional security, and shifts in international discourse structures. Pakistan's exploration demonstrates that "Global South" countries can mitigate risks amid uncertainty, while also providing reference for Eastern nations to reflect on "self" and "other" relations, transcend Western theoretical frameworks, and construct independent discourse systems and subjectivity.