Pakistan The State In Crisis

If democracy in Pakistan collapses repeatedly because of military takeovers, why have the army chiefs of Pakistan been in trouble since the death of General Zia? If the ISI is the most powerful institution in Pakistan, why are its chiefs removed unceremoniously from their jobs and sometimes put under trial? If Pakistan is a security state, who is in charge of deciding matters of security? If the government and the various permanent institutions of the state formulate policy, why are non-government jehadi organisations allowed to make their own decisions affecting the security of the state? Is the security of Pakistan linked to the interest of the state or to its emotion? Does the nuclear device give Pakistan its security through deterrence? Why is Pakistan’s bomb less safe for the world than India’s? Why is the Muslim scientist prone to being a fundamentalist? How does Islamic faith affect a state employee’s training of obedience to legal authority? If the economist all over the world is known as an opponent of war, why is the Pakistani economist ready to co-exist with Pakistani rulers’ warrior inclinations? How is the clergy’s vision of the state different from that of the non-clerical Pakistani, and how does he successfully dictate it to the state? Why is the average Pakistani continuously deluded about the United Nations and insists on invoking provisions that are non-existent? Can Pakistan live next to India without fighting unsuccessful wars with it and without capitulating? What will be Pakistan like in the next 25 years?

Khaled Ahmed was in the Pakistan Foreign Service from 1969 to 1978. He left it to become a journalist of distinction in The Pakistan Times. Then he was the Joint Editor of The Nation. Later he became the Editor of The Frontier Post. Since 1993, he has been the Consulting Editor of The Friday Times. He is a founder-member of Track-two Neemrana Dialogue between India and Pakistan.