This article argues that since the British colonial era, Muslims in South Asia have responded to English in three ways: (a) rejection and resistance, (b) acceptance and assimilation, and (c) pragmatic utilization. These responses continue in Pakistan and are respectively associated with the traditionalist ulema, the Westernized middle and upper classes; and Islamists, including Islamic militants. In turn these social cleavages are closely linked to the role of English as a marker of socio-economic class and the function of the state in creating and maintaining policies which have distributed the language unevenly (i.e., the elite has privileged access to it while the poorest people do not). More specifically, the article examines the relationship between the polarization of Pakistani society in terms of militancy, religious tolerance, and women's rights and the degree of exposure to English, socio-economic class, and identity.