Pakistan builds nationalism on achievement, not victimhood

Pakistan is forging a new national identity centered on recent achievements, a departure from the global trend of "victimhood nationalism." The country's armed forces secured a significant victory against India in May 2025, followed by successfully mediating dialogue between the United States and Iran during a period of escalating conflict.

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modern nations have increasingly stopped constructing their core identities around grand victories, choosing instead to actively compete over who has suffered the most.

These dual successes are being leveraged by the Pakistani state to foster a more unified nationalism. This approach stands in contrast to the contemporary global tendency, as observed by South Korean historian Jie-Hyun Lim, where modern nations increasingly define themselves by who has suffered the most. Lim's 2025 book, "Victimhood Nationalism," posits that internalizing past tragedies grants nations a collective moral immunity, which political leaders can then weaponize.

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when a nation internalises the memory of a past tragedy, it effectively grants itself a collective moral immunity.

Lim notes that this "victimhood" has evolved into a strategic political tool, elevating grievance into a persuasive collective narrative. Lilie Chouliaraki, an academic at the London School of Economics, writes in her 2024 work "Wronged: The Weaponisation of Victimhood" that political actors across the spectrum now claim victim status to deflect criticism and rally support. Israel is presented as a prominent example, where the memory of the Holocaust shapes the state's narrative and is invoked to justify policies and deflect accountability for actions concerning Palestinians.

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Victimhood in this regard has evolved beyond a psychological response to suffering. It has transformed into a strategic political tool.

In contrast, Pakistan's strategy appears to be building its nationalism on a foundation of concrete achievements rather than dwelling on past grievances. This focus on success aims to shape both national and international discourse, steering away from the narrative of victimhood that characterizes many contemporary nations.

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modern political actors across the ideological spectrum now routinely claim the status of being a victim to shield themselves from critique and rally popular support.