Husain Haqqani, one of the most important and reliable authorities on Pakistan, carries out a detailed and deliberate assessment on the past and present state of Pakistan while making genuinely bold advocacy for a folly prone government and leadership in his book, Reimagining Pakistan.
Throughout its 70 years after independence, Pakistan’s political and military leadership has failed miserably so as to earn notorious sobriquets like — a failed state, fragile, dangerous, terrorist incubator, the land of intolerant, unstable, negative etc. Even author Salman Rushdie once described Pakistan as a ‘poorly imagined country’. Much of Pakistan’s dysfunction is attributable to an ideology tied to a religion and to hostility with the country from which it was carved out — India. But 95 per cent of Pakistan’s 210 million people were born after Partition, and as Pakistanis, they cannot easily give up on their home.
The book divided into aptly named chapters — ‘A Resilient International Migraine’, ‘Faith Grievance and Special Purpose’, ‘Ideological Dysfunction’, ‘Islamist Rage’, ‘Insecurity and Jihad’, ‘The Institution’, ‘Warriors, Not Traders’ and lastly ‘Avoiding the March of Folly’ — have convincingly narrated the failings and shortcomings of the leadership of Pakistan.
‘Avoiding The March of Folly’ is written by American historian Barbara W Tuchman and analyses Pakistan government’s folly and obstinacy. Pakistan has been a victim of four kinds of misgovernment, as identified by Tuchman, and these have manifested in history, often in combination —
tyranny or oppression, excessive ambition, incompetence or decadence and folly or perversity.
To stem its march of folly, Haqqani advocates Pakistan to reassess its core beliefs about religion-based polity, reconsider the notion of permanent conflict with its larger neighbour, recreate political institutions to reflect its ethnic diversity and rebuild its economy without reliance on the largesse of others.
He further advises Pakistan to stop resenting India and stake claim to its own share of prosperity. He also suggests that Pakistan could adopt a new course just as Germany and Japan did after 1945 and China after 1989. It could begin by allowing discussions of alternative imaginings of Pakistan that are not bound by its narrowly defined ideological parameters. According to Haqqani, Pakistan’s excessive focus on survival and resilience — and its direction being set by men trained only to think of security — may have sown the seeds of its myriad problems. It could continue to survive as it has done so far and defy further negative predictions. But if it does not grow economically sufficiently, integrate globally and remain mired in ideological debates and crises, how would Pakistan’s next seven decades be any different from the past 70 years?
The book is a must have in the libraries of universities, politicians, policy makers and bureaucrats, defence institutions and individual students of international studies and Pakistan in specific. The notes at the end of the book are very exhaustive and so is the index.
(A Veteran from the Army Air Defence, Col Bipin D Shinde, has a vast experience in staff and field tenures in the Army, DRDO, NCC, along with civil administration as the District Sainik Welfare Officer, Pune. He can be reached at bdsshinde@yahoo.co.in)
