Historian of South Asia have spent significant time and energy trying to understand the degree to which independence from the British actually constituted any sort of meaningful change. Continuities can be found in various forms: the Government of India Act, 1935, is the predecessor to both the Indian and the Pakistani constitutions; the permanent and largely unaccountable spectre of a centralised civil bureaucracy still controls key aspects of governance at local and higher tiers; and, more so in Pakistan’s case, the perennial strength of the military’s officer cadre in political decision-making.

There are, of course, significant disagreements: Some suggest that the idiom of democracy and fundamental rights that came with independence has changed how citizens view the state, what expectations they have from it, and how they engage with it.

But events of the past few months, as with many previous instances in the last 75 years, have shown that the case for colonial-era continuity is still very strong. It doesn’t matter what political views and aspirations people may have or how they are voiced. It doesn’t matter if law supports popular representation. The core principle of keeping power centralised, unaccountable, and hierarchical is still protected and enforced.

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