ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the ways in which gender ideology lies at the heart of the production of nationalist and militarist thought in Pakistan. It looks at how women's bodies were used during Partition as part of a national battle to create Pakistan and India. The concept of militarization is being used here not merely to denote a large, standing army equipped with the latest nuclear and conventional weapons. Militarization, in a wider and more comprehensive sense, entails the effects of militaristic thinking on an entire society. An important part of nationalism in South Asia has been the way women and their sexuality is treated as the symbol of culture, tradition and home. In a situation of national conflict this leads to the women of the enemy being forced into a similar symbolic role. A complex and intricate relationship develops between the predominance of military values, love and desire for the nation-state and gender ideology.
