Book Review
Pakistan
A Hard Country
Boundaries around the territory does not make it a country if the people running it are not disciplined and organized. Occupying a territory is not enough to call it a country. It requires certain elements.
Anatol Lieven is the writer of “Pakistan A Hard Country” Orwell Prize winning journalist, and a policy analyst. He is a Senior Researcher at the New American Foundation, where he focuses on US global strategy and the War on Terrorism, Chair of International Relations and Terrorism Studies at King’s College, London. In his book, he has described Pakistan’s very real essence. He showed grave concern and laid down key features of Pakistan. He focused on the governing body and penned down the insurgent elements of Pakistan. A lay man can get real picture of Pakistan as it is written in a well-organized manner.
He described the amalgamation of restive ideology of Pakistan. Pakistan has never been governed as it should have, as by rule of law. Pakistan is considered as Islamic republic state within facile ideology. Sectarianism, terrorism, Islamism are very hard elements for Pakistan. He wrote that Pakistan could have reformed but policies are still operated on the basis of the British Indian Act of 1861, only slightly modified. This act was introduced as the result of immediate awakening of the Indian revolt of 1857.
He deplored the societies and classes in Pakistan through bottom line of governing body. Individual and collective attitudes of people, who are very optimistic in looking upon the essence of Pakistan have been featured in this book.
The overall perspective that is prevailing in Pakistan has been very vividly expressed. He described the very real confounding sense of Pakistan and drew the social complexities in envisaged validity. Justice, religion, military, politics are the key features of Pakistan being directed on the basis of examples rather than the hardcore facts of Pakistan.
Continuous counter war between cultural and constitutional justice has weakened Pakistan. Pakistan is a country where you can act upon your wishes, only if you have power. Moreover, the base line of the state was drawn through cultural factor and ideology was laid down on the basis of Islamic perspectives. One of the causes of the weakening of Pakistan is the false distribution of power.
Desire for the power is one of the elements of corruption. Power prejudice has prevailed at gross root level due to various cultural and political factors. Insurgency in Pakistan has been adopted by left arm-wings at regional base to get unscrupulous power. Pakistan is facing deepening threats due to disability of governance.
Anatol Lieven concluded, that Pakistan, though deeply troubled state, can survive if its citizens understand the winds of change. Pakistan is in the need to bring the structural reforms and very sanguinely adopt the emerging standard of world. Pakistan should defeat the insurgency and promote the awareness of ecology changing so that global warming threat is controlled. Pakistan needs to take a difficult stance for fragile aristocracy and to develop strong mutual governing system. A new system should develop on the basis of justice and equality and cultural factor was being treated as local freedom to be updated. Pakistan is stronger than its looks and will probably survive as a state; but if these patterns continue, it will not do so for ever.