The debates of nuclear non-proliferation and war on terror have placed Pakistan under critical circles of international community. Instead of investing its full potential in aligning with international non-proliferation regime and carrying the anti-terror campaign of United States, Islamabad is facing difficulties in improving its position in contemporary world politics. The great problems from eastern and western endangered have borders Pakistan’s position in the regional politics of South Asia. American presence in Afghanistan and the Indian opposition to the creation of Pakistan are two main security issues which are consistently exerting pressure on Pakistan. In this scenario, Pakistan has become a gravitational point of scholarly discussions and journalistic debates. A number of writers have expressed their thoughts on Pakistan’s contemporary position in the regional and international politics. The varying opinions and contesting arguments of writers from diverse backgrounds represent a blurred picture of Pakistan. Everyone writing on Pakistan is trying to define its own position while ignoring other scholarly dimensions.
Babar Ayaz is one of the writers who constantly adopts critical lens for studying the different aspects relevant to Pakistan. Ayaz’s has a forty-year journalistic career with different newspapers, he served at various national and international journalistic forums and has expressed his views on Pakistan’s social and political problems. The book under review is Ayaz’s critical study. While examining Pakistan’s role vis-à-vis regional and international politics, Ayaz remains reluctant in articulating his critical position on Pakistan. The book is divided into six parts having thirty-four chapters. He starts the debate from the creation of Pakistan in the first chapter The Genetic Defect of Pakistan and ends the book on fore- casting the future of Pakistan in the final chapter 2013 and Beyond.
The first part of the book contains the historical account of South Asian politics. This initial portion of the Ayaz’s study explains the problems of partition of the subcontinent and the consequences of British colonial retreat. The second part examines the problems of Pakistan after its creation. The aftermaths of partition was, no doubt, a period of countless problems for Pakistan in which it was not an easy task for the initial Muslim leadership of Pakistan to protect its sovereign position by defending its borders from rivals gathering of international community. Indian ambition to undo the partition of subcontinent was the gravest threat to the sovereign values of newly independent Muslim state of the subcontinent. Ayaz explains the post-partition issues between East and West Pakistan which eventually caused the 1971 war and separation of the eastern part of Pakistan. The writer of creation the describes Bangladesh without mentioning the role of India’s clandestine activities in the Eastern part of Pakistan. The subsequent parts of the book provide an interesting account of anti-Pakistani views cemented in an unbalanced approach that lacks impartial values.
The third part of the book discusses ideological foundations of Pakistan and the role of religion in the internal social and political affairs of the country. No doubt, religion has always remained a driving force in political, cultural, and economic matters of Pakistan, but the book paints an awful picture of Jihadi culture and sectarianism across the country. The writer is unsympathetic and maintains his hard position on the role of religion in Pakistan by turning a blind eye away from the actual peaceful spirit of Islam. The next part of the book inspects the level of civil-military relations and the role of Jihad in the country. In order to highlight a thin layer of civil-military rift and Pakistan’s Indian policy, the writer provides the details of military’s role in politics, especially during the Zia and Musharraf regimes. The second last part of Babar Ayaz’s study of offers a brief conversation of Pakistan’s foreign relations especially with neighbouring states. In addition to Islamabad’s relations with territorially adjoining nations, two chapters describe the relations with Saudi Arabia and the United States. Finally, the last part of the book contains an ambiguous account of varying analysis in which Babar Ayaz tries to summarize his thoughts on Pakistan by predicting a few probable future scenarios.
By adopting a non-traditional approach by staying in the critical camp, Ayaz appears hesitant in focusing on the actual problems of Pakistan. No doubt, the less academic and more journalistic style of Ayaz maintains a heavy account of critical arguments on Pakistan and then having it published from an Indian publisher but the book sways away from its title and the writer fails to identify what is actually wrong with Pakistan. In short, the reading of Babar Ayaz’s book reveals an interesting account of different arguments but to agree with the aspects articulated by Ayaz is rather difficult. A rather gloomy picture of Pakistan’s internal problems and serious issues concerning challenging problems of national security are the central arguments in the book, but the whole story in its short thirty-four essays talks more about Ayaz’s approach and less about Pakistan.
