LAHORE – The impression in the West about Pakistan being a failed state needs to be dispelled as it is a much more resilient state than is usually believed and the wave of extremism cannot destroy it, Professor Anatol Lieven from the Department of War Studies at the King’s College London opined.
Lieven, who is currently on a visit to Pakistan, has had decades of experience in Russia, Afghanistan, Pakistan and the US. In addition to having had a BA and a doctorate from Cambridge University, he has also worked as a journalist in the region. He has authored six books on different issues of politics on Russia and the US. His recent book “Pakistan, a Hard Country” has been published internationally, but is yet to be published locally.
Commenting on his work, he said the book is basically designed for the western audiences and is “very much anticipated to decrease prejudices about Pakistan in the West”. The main argument of his book revolves around the fact that Pakistan is not a failed state and there are a lot of factors which give resilience to its people.
The army, as an institution, is a great source of resilience for the people, however, it is the very institution which extracts resources from other state institutions and intervenes in politics. The other source of resilience is the political class, but it also mainly eats up the state resources. Then come kinship and the caste system which form small and various powerhouses across the country from the local level and go up to the national level.
This system, however, supports tax evasion and is used to influence the local power structures. Another major source of resilience is the religion, he said. He maintained if a political consensus is developed on an issue and the army is backed by the political will, any problem could be handled.
“I’ve recently visited Swat and the joint efforts of the civilian and the military leadership had effectively fought the militancy and restored peace to the valley. This explains how things could be handled in Pakistan,” he said. He further warned the US that it should never even think of attacking or destabilizing Pakistan, because if it did so, it would give room to extremist elements to grab the civilian setup.
He said that Pakistan should make every possible effort to fight extremism and militancy. Commenting on the basic problems facing the polity, he said Pakistan had failed to improve revenue collection over the years, which implies that it would always remain a dependent state without increasing the revenue. “Other major problems include water shortage and population explosion which the country needs to address for sustainable growth,” he added.
Professor Lieven also addressed a small gathering of media people, politicians and academicians at a local club in the evening. Speaking on the occasion, Dr Saeed Elahi said Lieven’s book came at a time when a majority of western media were maligning Pakistan. He said Professor Lieven’s book is a message of hope not only for the people of Pakistan but also for the world.
