Abstract
<jats:p>This monograph examines the historical problem of national integration in Pakistan, focusing on the era of General Pervez Musharraf as a critical case study. It argues that Pakistan’s survival as a multi-ethnic, multilingual, multi-religious, and multi-sectarian federation depends not merely on formal unity but on a continuing process of political, economic, cultural, and psychological integration. Beginning with the ideological foundations of the Two-Nation Theory and Quaid-e-Azam’s vision, the study traces Pakistan’s constitutional and political development from 1947 through democratic instability, military rule, the 1971 dismemberment, and the post-Zia period. It then analyzes Musharraf’s devolution reforms and their implications for centre–province relations. The monograph highlights persistent challenges, including provincial autonomy, NFC Award disputes, water distribution, Kalabagh Dam, natural resource royalties, ethnic politics, unemployment, sectarian violence, the War on Terror, Gwadar, and demands for new provinces. Using a qualitative, historical, and analytical approach, supported by questionnaires and expert views, it treats these issues as symptoms of an unresolved federal compact. The study concludes that national integration can be strengthened through constitutionalism, fiscal justice, empowered federal institutions, judicial independence, electoral reform, and an inclusive national ideology rooted in diversity and shared destiny.</jats:p>