You may have to Search all our reviewed books and magazines, click the sign up button below to create a free account.
Recent writings on Pakistan have tended to focus on the role of the Pakistan Army, the nuclear programme, terrorism, Pak-Afghan and Pak-US relations and, of course, Indo-Pak relations. Pakistan: Courting the Abyss goes beyond sensationalist headlines and current crises like terrorism and tensions with India, to the deeper malaise that afflicts the nation. The book examines issues like identity, the looming water crisis, the perilous state of education, the economic meltdown and the danger of an unrealized 'demographic dividend' that have been eating the innards of Pakistan since its creation. It looks back at the Pakistan movement, where the seeds of many current problems were sown - the opportunistic use of religion being the most lethal of these. Pakistan: Courting the Abyss questions the flawed prescriptions and responses of successive governments, especially during military rule, to these critical challenges that have brought Pakistan to an abyss where it risks multi-organ failure, unless things change dramatically in the near future.
Fascinating vignettes about the men and woman who ruled PakistanWhat did Muhammad Ali Jinnah say when he received a royal salute from the last British regiment about to leave Pakistan? Did Ayub Khan consider turning Pakistan into a monarchy? Why was Yahya Khan so confident that the 1970 elections would return a hung parliament? What did Zulfikar Ali Bhutto say when the Pakistan Army launched a brutal crackdown in March 1971? How did Zia-ul-Haq get Bhutto to appoint him the army chief? In 2007, did Benazir Bhutto misread the extent of American support for her return to Pakistan? Had Pervez Musharraf and Nawaz Sharif agreed to a pull-out from Kargil even before the latter went to meet President Clinton in July 1999? Backed by meticulous research, the second book from Tilak Devasher, author of Pakistan: Courting the Abyss, provides enthralling insights into the lives and times of the leaders of Pakistan over the seven decades of the nation's existence. Anecdotal and engrossing, Pakistan: At the Helm presents a human side to the country's political history for anyone who is curious about the inner workings of its corridors of power.
The Pashtuns are perhaps the largest ethnic group in the world without a country of their own. They inhabit a continuous stretch of land from the Hindu Kush to the Indus, across Pakistan and Afghanistan. Pakistan used the Pashtun-dominated areas in Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) as a launching pad against the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan in the 1980s and later during the US-led War on Terror. In the process FATA was kept in a constitutional and informational black hole. The discontent finally burst in 2018 when the extra-judicial killing of a Pashtun youth led to widespread protests. This book by veteran analyst Tilak Devasher fulfils a gap in the geopolitical understanding of South Asia, given the US withdrawal from Afghanistan and the shifting power equations in the region.
Balochistan, Pakistan's largest province, is a complex region fraught with conflict and hostility, ranging from an enduring insurgency and sectarian violence to terror strikes and appalling human rights violations. In his third book on Pakistan, Tilak Devasher analyses why Balochistan is such a festering sore for Pakistan. With his keen understanding of the region, he traces the roots of the deep-seated Baloch alienation to the princely state of Kalat's forced accession to Pakistan in 1948. This alienation has been further solidified by the state's rampant exploitation of the province, leading to massive socio-economic deprivation. Is the Baloch insurgency threatening the integrity of Pakistan? What is the likelihood of an independent Balochistan? Has the situation in the province become irretrievable for Pakistan? Is there a meeting ground between the mutually opposing narratives of the Pakistan state and the Baloch nationalists?Devasher examines these issues with a clear and objective mind backed by meticulous research that goes to the heart of the Baloch conundrum.
"This book is an analytical collection of anecdotes, vignettes and incidents selected from Pakistan's history of the last seven decades."--Page xvii.
In February 2018, the Vivekananda International Foundation set up the Pakistan Study Group to discuss and debate issues relating to Pakistan in a holistic manner. Meeting almost every fortnight since its inception, the discussions have been forthright and candid. This volume presents a collection of these discussions.
Among U.S. allies in the war against terrorism, Pakistan cannot be easily characterized as either friend or foe. Nuclear-armed Pakistan is an important center of radical Islamic ideas and groups. Since 9/11, the selective cooperation of president General Pervez Musharraf in sharing intelligence with the United States and apprehending al Qaeda members has led to the assumption that Pakistan might be ready to give up its longstanding ties with radical Islam. But Pakistan's status as an Islamic ideological state is closely linked with the Pakistani elite's worldview and the praetorian ambitions of its military. This book analyzes the origins of the relationships between Islamist groups and Pakistan's military, and explores the nation's quest for identity and security. Tracing how the military has sought U.S. support by making itself useful for concerns of the moment—while continuing to strengthen the mosque-military alliance within Pakistan—Haqqani offers an alternative view of political developments since the country's independence in 1947.
In this exhaustive study of the NWFP and its adjoining area of Afghanistan, Raghvendra Singh argues that with an increasingly powerful China knocking on India's door, it is imperative to recognize that the docile acceptance of NWFP's loss in 1947 may have serious consequences for India's security in times to come.
Pakistan and America have been gripped together in a deadly embrace for decades. For half a century American presidents from both parties pursued narrow short-term interests in Pakistan. This myopia actually backfired in the long term, helping to destabilize the political landscape and radicalizing the population, setting the stage for the global jihad we face today. Bruce Riedel, one of America's foremost authorities on U.S. security and South Asia, sketches the history of U.S.-Pakistani relations from partitioning of the subcontinent in 1947 up through the present day. It is muddled story, meandering through periods of friendship and enmity. Riedel deftly interprets the tortuous path of re...