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Amit RANJAN*

Pakistan: Beyond the Crisis State

Edited by Maleeha Lodhi: (London New Delhi: C. Hurst & Company Ltd & Rupa Publications; 2011). Pages: xxv, 391. Price: $ 24.95. ISBN

9780231702447.

The Future of Pakistan

Edited by Stephen P. Cohen and others: New Delhi: (Oxford University Press; 2011). Pages: xv, 311. Price: $ 29.95. ISBN 13:978-0-

19-807977-4, 10:0-19-807977.

At present, Pakistan is in a dire state. It is facing critical challenges on all fronts, giving sleepless nights to international strategists, scholars and also to its neighboring countries, which are being collaterally affected by the develop-ments in Pakistan. Various terms like, failed state, fragile state, crisis state etc, are being used to explain the present state of affairs in Pakistan. However, there are optimists, who accept that their country is passing through a very difficult time but are very much hopeful about its good future. Both books present these contrasting ideas and, on the basis of contents, can be divided into four themes.

Fractured SocietyPakistan is regionally and ethnically fractured society .The primordial identi-ties have been preponderant over the feeling of being a Pakistani1.The reason for it lies in its history of birth and graduating into an Islamic state, by bet-raying the ideals and dreams of its founding father-M.A. Jinnah. Demand for Pakistan was raised by the Muslims residing in central and eastern parts of British India. The regions which constitute present day Pakistan had maintai-ned distance from that movement and joined it, only during the wee hours of

1 Farzana Sheikh , Making Sense of Pakistan (London: Hirst, 2009).* PhD candidate at Jawahar Lal Nehru University, New Delhi.

Book Reviews / A. Ranjan

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colonial rule. Also, after its birth, as a result of partition of India in 1947, Sindh and Khyber-Pakthunkhwa, in past and Balochistan, since 1948, have taken various stern measures to secede from Pakistan. Punjabization of Pakistan2 since 1960s has further aggravated regional and provincial tensions. Even commonality of religion, which was the basis of its demand and formation in 1947, could not save its eastern part (now Bangladesh) from becoming a so-vereign country in 1972. Religiously, though its Islamic state but since 1950s, sectarian differences have been the reason for violence in Pakistan.

In her unique style Ayesha Jalal, a leading historian on Pakistan, in Paki-stan: Beyond the Crisis State, writes that the self-glorification of an imagined past matched by habits of national denial have assumed crisis proportions today when Pakistans existence is under far more serious threat from fellow Muslims than it was in 1947 from rival non-Muslim communities. She blames the political and military elites for the present situation and expresses hope that Pakistan will find a way out of the daunting present. In the same book, Akbar Ahmed explained the role of Jinnah, his vision and his relevance. Jin-nahs Pakistan will be alive as long as there are Muslims who feel for their identity and destiny of other Muslims, and who care for the oppressed and the minorities in their midst. Taking stock of all problems that Pakistan is facing, Mohsin Ahmed, bit optimistically, writes a brighter future awaits us if we as Pakistani citizens, are willing to pay for it.

Contrarily, in The Future of Pakistan, Stephen P. Cohen finds that the idea of a secular, moderate and democratic Pakistan is under attack from ethnic groups and religious extremists, and Jinnahs vision is not widely accepted, let alone understood, outside the shrinking liberal community. In the same book, Kanti P. Bajpai does not even rule out the possibilities of Balkanization of Pakistan. He finds out that in case Punjab loses the will to hold the country together and if Iran and India or some other powerful state supports one or more of the recalcitrant provinces, those provinces may eventually succeed in separating. Noting the ongoing developments, Hasan Askari Rizvi in The Future of Pakistan notes that Pakistan is a troubled state that faces the threat

2 Punjabization of Pakistan means that all of Pakistan has been Punjabized due to the dominance of Punjabis over socio-economic and political structures of Pakistan. Yunus Samad Pakistan or Punjabistan: Crisis of National Identity, International Journal of Punjab Studies, Vol 2 , No.1 1995, p. 23-41. Some scholars have also used the term Sunnization of Pakistan and Saudi Arabization of Pakistanthe first because of the dominance of Sunni groups and the latter because of Pakistans closeness to Saudi Arabia.


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of going under mainly due to internal problems and external pressures. How-ever, it has the potential to overcome those challenges and shape itself up as a reasonably functional state. It can go either way: decline and fragment or emerge as a functioning democracy and middle-level economy. However, Pakistans turnaround is not possible without internal determination that en-courages the state, society and international support to meet those challenges.

Failed InstitutionsFailure of much hyped- institutions are typical phenomenon in all developing countries and Pakistan could not remain immune to it. Pakistan has been cur-sed to remain under military rule for three-fourths of its life as a sovereign nation. Its history is one of conflict between a failed political system and a well-organized army that grew in strength as a counterweight to a hostile In-dia and in relation to the political system. But even army had failed to manage the things, due to institutional snags and loopholes. Quoting former Army Chief General Jehangir Karamat, Shuja Nawaz in Pakistan: Beyond the Crisis State writes: Whenever there is a breakdown instability, as has happe-ned frequently in Pakistan, the military translates its potential into the will to dominate, and we have military intervention followed by military rule. Ho-wever, he adds, as far as the track record of the military as rulers in the past is concerned, I am afraid it is not much better than the civilians. Aqil Shah in The Future of Pakistan presents a picture of Pakistan as a garrison state. The military also consumes a lions share of unaccounted-for expenditures, which are not only wasteful but also divert precious resources away from socio-eco-nomic development. The military is thus both unaccountable to Pakistanis and unaffordable for Pakistan. The role of the military in siphoning off money and remaining unaccountable is also depicted by Ayesha Siddiqa, who has used the term milibus to explain the corruption in the Pakistani military.3 The army has always had a regional bias because of the presence of a large number of its personnel from Punjab. Rawalpindi, Attock and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa have been major traditional areas for recruitment at all levels in the army. Punjabs overwhelming presence has now entered a decline, but still its share is more than others with 59.4 percent of personnel belonging to this region.

3 Milibus means militarys involvement in economic activities and business. It is quite similar to development in Pakistan and what is flourishing in Western countries in the form of a military-industrial complex. Ayesha Siddiqa, Military Inc; Inside Pakistans Military Economy ( London: Pluto Press, 2007).


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Other sectors are also ripping the country apart and causing problems, like unemployment, corruption, environmental hazards, etc. Ishrat Hussain in Pakistan: Beyond the Crisis State writes that Pakistans main problem in holding on to macro-economic stability, sustaining economic growth and de-livering public services to the poor is due to weak governance and a gradual but perceptible decline in institutional capacity. Ishrat Hussain also points out the role of elites in the decline of institutions. There is a need to re-build them. He has supported the eighteenth amendment to Pakistans constitution which addresses some of the distribution of power. Meekal Ahmed in the same book talked about the economic history of Pakistan and feels that structural re-forms are necessary.Positively, Muddassar Mazhar Malik in Pakistan: Beyond the Crisis State talked about Pakistans economic potential. He cited Goldman Sachs 2005 formulated notion of Next-11 (N-11), which identified Pakistan in a group of countries that have the economic potential to become important players in the global system after BRICS. Pakistan was identified owing to its size, its growing population and its industrial base. He has talked about the economic problems which Pakistan is facing today, more due to geo-political reasons. The risks of failure are much greater today than at any time in the past, but so too are the rewards of meaningful reform. Zial Alahdad in the same book presents a scenario in the energy sector in Pakistan, which has to be improved in order to secure economic growth.

Coming to the education sector, Shanza Khan and Moeed Yusuf in Paki-stan: Beyond the Crisis State talked about the need for reform, especially regarding madarsha. The madarsha education system needs urgent reform to allow it to prepare students for modern economies while retaining their faith-based focus. The agenda to transform the existing ones is oft-expressed, but political constraints and a fear of resistance have prevented the govern-ment from doing anything significant. In The Future of Pakistan, Anita M. Weiss talked about population growth, urbanization and female literacy and their impact on the future of Pakistan. The growing urban population needs more space and increased literacy rates demand more opportunities. She has focused upon increasing female literacy, which is a challenge to a feudal pa-triarchal society.

Islamic RadicalizationMost of the globally-active jihadis have their relationship with Pakistan. This is one of the most important reasons why this state is facing all sorts of exter-


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nal and internal problems. One of the best scholars on terrorism in Pakistan, Zahid Hussain, in Pakistan: Beyond the Crisis State writes that the regional and international climate of the 1980s favored Zias orthodox Islamization and the alliance with the West served the militarys institutional interests. As a front-line ally of the U.S. in the Soviet-Afghan War, the military benefitted from billions of dollars in military and economic aid, while Zia promoted a militant version of Islam to wage jihad and crush his democratic foes at home. The first Pakistani jihadi group emerged in the 1980s, and by 2002 the country had become home to twenty-four militant groups.

In both books, almost all contributors have discussed about how the mili-tant groups evolved, their relationship with external terror groups, their links with the Pakistani Army and ISI. They have also narrated the incidents like the recent killing of Salman Tasseer, former governor of Punjab, which shows the growing strength of militants. They have also raised doubts and put ques-tion mark on the Pakistani Armys seriousness in fighting against the terrorist groups because of the umbilical cord between them. The evidence of this was presence of Osama bin Laden in Abbotabad, few miles away from, Pakistan Military Academy.

Talking about social acceptance of terrorism ,Laila Bokhari in The Future of Pakistan maintains that historically, there has been a relatively high degree of social acceptance of jihad as defined by the jihadi groupsthat is violent jihadin Pakistani society. This has strengthened the jihadi groups and let them loose to do whatever they want to do. But there is another side as well which has been presented by Maleeha Lodhi, in Pakistan: Beyond the Crisis State, that the combined vote of the religious political parties has never ex-ceeded 11 percent. This is what Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal (MMA), an alliance of five religious parties, obtained in a poll in 2002, a controversial election because of then-President General Musharraf s backing to this allaince.

Role of External and Global ActorsSince its birth in 1947, external actors have played a dominant role in Pakis-tan. Illustrating how Pakistanis have let themselves be used by other power-ful countries to serve their self-interests, Ayesha Jalal in Pakistan: Beyond the Crisis State quoted S.H. Mantos first out of nine letters to Uncle Sam: My country is poor, but why is it ignorant?. Presently, Pakistan is paying a heavy price for it. At present too, it is engaged in Afghanistan and part of Pakistan to fight the U.S. war on terrorism.


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India plays the most important role in any sort of policy formulation in Pakistan and vice versa. In the words of Stanley Wolpert, India and Pakistan are born to conflict.4 The bone of contention between the two is the unre-solved dispute over the status of Jammu and Kashmir. Even three total wars one limited war, a series of political-cum-military confrontations and num-bers of multilateral and bilateral engagements have failed to resolve this issue. The conflict between the two is being constructed in such a way that even if the Kashmir issue, hoping against the hope, is resolved, conflict will continue. To deter Indias strong conventional military power, Pakistan, during the cold war, joined MEDO, CENTO and other military alliance and become a mili-tary ally of the USA. It also developed good relationship with China, in order to check India. Since the late 1980s, it has been using the unemployed Afghan mujahids in its proxy war against India. Ahmad Rashid in Pakistan: Beyond the Crisis State writes that they are also being used by the ISI to de-stabilize Indias presence in Afghanistan. There have been repeated attacks on the Indi-an embassy, its consulates and road-building projects by Taliban linked to the Jalaluddin Haqqani group, which has close a working relationship with the ISI.

Contributors in both books have talked about having a good relation with India is in favor of Pakistan. In The Future of Pakistan, Kanti P. Bajpai and B. Raman have talked about the institutional level of interactions between the two countries. Quoting a survey carried out by Business Week, Stephen P. Co-hen, in the same book, have maintained that roughly 72 percent of Pakistanis feel that it is important to improve relations with India and about 75 percent supported the increased trade and further talks with India. However, there are hardliners who believe in a constant deterring of India. They have an agenda to make Pakistan strategically strong and ally with others in order to balance India. One such view has been expressed by Munir Akram in Pakistan: Be-yond the Crisis State.

Finally, one of the most important difference between the two books, which is the reason for having contrasting views, is in Pakistan; Beyond the Crisis State all contributors are either resident citizens of Pakistan or Pakistanis staying out of their country. On the other hand, in The Future of Pakistan most of the contributors are foreigners, who have carried out their research on Pakistan. Even the Pakistanis, in later book, are the one staying out of their

4 Stanley Wolpert, India and Pakistan: Continued Conflict or Cooperation (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2010).


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country. This has environmental influence on the subjectivity of researcher. Aside from it, both books are erudite works by the editors. They are must for all those who want to understand Pakistan. There is a caveat; both the books must be read simultaneously because reading only one, will give half glass full knowledge, which is a dangerous academic exercise.

REFERENCESAyesha Siddiqa, Military Inc; Inside Pakistans Military Economy ( London: Pluto

Press, 2007).Farzana Sheikh , Making Sense of Pakistan (London: Hirst, 2009).Stanley Wolpert, India and Pakistan: Continued Conflict or Cooperation (Berkeley:

University of California Press, 2010).Yunus Samad, Pakistan or Punjabistan: Crisis of National Identity, International Jour-

nal of Punjab Studies, Vol. 2 , No.1, 1995, p. 23-41.

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Tartma Platformu / M. Kutlay

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