The volume Pakistan: Beyond the Crisis State in the words of its editor, Dr Maleeha Lodhi, is a product of a virtual conference in cyberspace that has led to a meeting of minds amongst some of Pakistans top media practitioners and scholars. The book is based on the optimistic assumption that Pakistans problems are solvable and its challenges can be overcome.
Resilience of the Pakistani nation is the central theme of the book. Dr Lodhi, journalist, diplomat, scholar and author has been able to collect a medley of opinions in this excellently edited book. It is a tribute to the editors tenacity and the high esteem in which her peers hold her that has enabled her to get some of the top names in media, diplomacy and academia to contribute to this volume.
They include Ayesha Jalal, Akbar S Ahmed, Mohsin Hamid, Ahmed Rashid, Zahid Hussain, Shuja Nawaz, Ishrat Hussain, Munir Akram and Maleeha Lodhi herself. Virtually every aspect of the crisis-ridden Pakistani state including economy, politics, foreign policy, security and terrorism is covered in the book.
The opening chapter, Past and Present by Ayesha Jalal, strikes a rather pessimistic note. She is in agreement with a leading American columnist describing Pakistan as Paranoidistan. She thinks that in order to grasp the reasons behind this paranoia, one must assess Pakistans troubled presence in the light of a troubled past.
Ayesha Jalal asserts that, despite a well-orchestrated official nationalism, Pakistan ever since its creation has been searching for moorings somewhere in the twilight zone between myth and history. The author thinks that without a credible history, a people cannot develop a historical consciousness, much less a national one, and Pakistan has found it difficult for ideological reasons to project a national identity.
Being a security state, Pakistan cannot change course without neutralising or satisfying the security concerns of its all-powerful Army, Jalal writes. She is of the view that with the Armys rise to dominance in the state since its very inception, no elected government has been able to change the flawed India-centric security paradigm.
Ayesha Jalal is rightly critical of the ostensibly free press which takes the path of least resistance by accepting the Armys claim that Indians not the Taliban are our main enemy. She concludes by saying that Pakistanis will be better served if they are taught how to delve into the depths of their own history with the kind of open-mindedness and spirit of free thinking enquiry that is the basis of mature understanding. The author has not spelled out how all this will change in the backdrop of the dismal state of our education system and the minimal priority social sectors are given in terms of budgetary outlays.
In sharp contrast to Ayesha Jalal, Mohsin Hamid strikes an optimistic note in his essay Why Pakistan will survive. He laments the pervasive negativity of views about the country. He celebrates the cultural diversity of the nation as well as senses a spirit of tolerance notwithstanding the intolerance of the mullahcracy. Mohsin Hamid feels that democracy is already delivering quoting the NFC award and the 18th Amendment as evidence.
While lamenting Pakistans dismal tax-to-GDP ratio, he asserts that if different strata of the society pay more taxes, it will be a win-win situation for all. Conceding that the tax revolution will not come overnight, he ends on an optimistic note. He states, a brighter future awaits us if we, as Pakistani citizens, are willing to pay for it. Judging by the stiff resistance offered by different lobbies represented in the parliament to GST, tax on agriculture or any form of taxation to the extent that the government is forced to impose taxes through an ordinance, this is a big if.
Although democracy and democratic institutions like an independent and proactive higher judiciary and a free media have thrived, most Pakistanis would take issue with Mr Hamid on being optimistic about the future. The recent murders of Salmaan Taseer and Shahbaz Bhatti, both state functionaries, and the week-kneed reaction of the government, media and society has put paid to the claim that Pakistanis are becoming more tolerant. In fact, terrorism and fanaticism has brutalised the society in such a manner that a pervasive siege mentality has slowly but surely crept in.
Ahmed Rashid, the celebrated specialist on Afghanistan, in his paper The Afghan Conundrum reiterates the view that the Pakistani military continues to run the countrys Afghan policy despite a civilian government. He rightly asserts that the Armys biggest challenge is whether it can help bring the war in Afghanistan to an end or not. At the same time, Rashid thinks the military has to defeat the Pakistani Taliban and their extremist offshoots. Given the circumstances, a tall order.
Dr Maleeha Lodhi in the chapter penned by her Beyond the Crisis State (which is also the title of the book) has given an in-depth analysis of our present malaise. While enumerating the fault lines in Pakistans polity, she gives top priority to the asymmetry between political and non-political or unelected institutions followed by feudal-dominated political order, over-reliance on an oligarchic elite for economic bailouts, intersection between efforts to leverage geography in pursuit of national security goals and persistence of centrifugal forces coupled with bitter ideological controversies over the role of Islam.
She envisions five possible scenarios: muddling through, another experiment in military-backed civilian-technocratic rule, a takeover by Islamic extremists or the Pakistani political elite reinventing themselves by outgrowing dynastic, personality-driven feudal politics.
She is excited about the fifth scenario that envisages a coalition led by the middle class spearheading an agenda of reform. Taking cue from the lawyers, women activists and civil society movement of 2007 for restoration of a free and independent judiciary which led to the downfall of Musharraf, she thinks it is doable.
According to her, a burgeoning middle class estimated to be 30 million plus by some estimates, could become a catalyst for such a revolution. Imran Khan has been at it for several years albeit with dismal results. MQM also claims to be a middle class party. But more correctly, it is an organisation based on ethnicity that does not shun violence to achieve its goals.
Pakistan: Beyond the Crisis State is an excellent read for those who want to derive some clarity from the countrys perennial abyss. It can also serve as a useful reference book for researchers.
The writer is Editor, Pakistan Today.
