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‘Pakistan can defy the odds’
* Report says weak Pakistani state can be rescued by reforms and
global support
LAHORE: Pakistan is being seen as a failing state and questions are
being raised about the safety of its nuclear weapons in case of a
Taliban or Al Qaeda takeover, but a US think tank report released at
a congressional hearing on Monday says the country has the ability
to “defy the odds”.
Pakistan is “a democratic society trapped inside an undemocratic
state”, according to the report on the future of the country report
by the Institute for Social Policy and Understanding titeld
‘Pakistan Can Defy the Odds: How to Rescue a Failing State’. The
briefing was sponsored by Congresswoman Sheila Jackson. The
approximately two dozen suicide bombings in 2009 so far, 66 in 2008,
and 61 in 2007, are a matter of concern in the context of the
evolving crisis in Pakistan, according to the report. But
“terrorists need far more than suicide bombers to get hold of
nuclear materials”, the report said.
More alarming is the expanding influence of the Taliban in FATA and
NWFP – that the report blames partly on “poor law enforcement
capacity and inadequate counterinsurgency know-how on the part of
Pakistan’s army” – and “confused threat perceptions and popular
conspiratorial thinking” that “encourages the denial of reality”.
But although these threats along with failing infrastructure and
absence of good governance show a dismal scenario, there is another
side of the picture, according to the report.
The “courageous and sustained lawyers’ movement” has “inspired ...
thousands of Pakistanis to struggle for the rule of law, an
independent judiciary, and the supremacy of the constitution”, and
“a vibrant and enthusiastic electronic and print media” helped the
cause “though sometimes at the cost of objectivity”. A large number
of Pakistani writers, artists, poets, and intellectuals are readying
people to face challenges including religious bigotry, the report
says, and a number of women are joining Pakistan’s army and air
force as soldiers and fighter pilots – “something inconceivable for
many Pakistanis just a decade ago due to cultural as well as
dogmatic religious worldviews”. These examples, according to the
report, show a “picture of hope and change”. In this context, the
report says dealings between the US and Pakistan “increasingly
fraught with resentment, miscommunication, and a sense of caginess”
should be improved to “build a deeper, sustainable, and long-term
strategic engagement with the people of Pakistan”.
The report ends with a quote from Professor Robert I Rotberg: that
weak states (or states in crisis) “may be inherently weak because of
geographical, physical or fundamental economic constraints; or they
may be basically strong, but temporarily or situationally weak
because of internal antagonisms, management flaws, greed, despotism,
or external attacks. Weak states typically harbor ethnic, religious,
linguistic, or other intercommunal tensions... Urban crime rates
tend to be high and increasing... Schools and hospitals show sign of
neglect... GDP per capita and other critical economic indicators
have fallen or are falling... Weak states usually honor rule of law
precepts in the breach.” daily times monitor
Daily Times:Thursady may 14,2009
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