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What's Wrong With Pakistan?
A racy narrative packed with a variety of historical facts, enthralling anecdotes & thumbnail sketches of Pakistani leaders.
A courageous, comprehensive and no-holds-barred account, by a veteran journalist, of a 66-year-old nation that is still trying to find its identity and fighting its own demons..
Beginning with the ‘genetic defect’ that Pakistan was born with, Babar Ayaz highlights the numerous problems faced by Pakistan today that have arisen as a result of the country’s foundation being based on religion. What Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah managed to achieve as a separate homeland in August 1947 is today being consumed by religious fanaticism. Ayaz attributes such a state of affairs to the Islamization of Pakistani laws, which are in conflict with the twenty-first century value systems. The author next pinpoints how Jinnah failed to recognize the ethno-linguistic diversity of the Pakistan he had created, which needed proper distribution of power between the Centre and the states in the then-existent West Pakistan and East Pakistan. He describes how the centralization of power and the imposition of a single language for both wings of the country led to the dismemberment of Pakistan and the creation of Bangladesh in 1971.
The book also analyzes the ‘unwritten national security policy’ of Pakistan and how it has dictated its foreign policy. Relations with the US, India, China, Saudi Arabia, Iran and Afghanistan are discussed vis-a-vis the overall national security policy. The author contends that the rise of fundamentalism is a global phenomenon, but in Pakistan, it has given birth to a plethora of Islamic militant groups covertly supported by the Pakistani intelligence services. Pakistan has been branded as ‘the most dangerous state of the world’ and the ‘epicentre of terrorism’. He laments the fact that attempts to present the peaceful side of Islam are extremely feeble because of the dominance of the pro-jihad elements, which are pushing the country into a civil war-like situation.
In spite of several years of attempts at indoctrination of the people through mass media and educational institutions, in Pakistan, the anti-Indian feelings and extreme stands on Kashmir have been limited. Ayaz believes that India and the developed world would have to help by being more accommodating and understanding, so that the people of Pakistan can re-invent their country. Without moving towards secularism, the author warns, Pakistan will remain at war with itself as it is torn between the twenty-first century and medieval religious value systems.
A courageous, comprehensive and no-holds-barred account, by a veteran journalist, of a 66-year-old nation that is still trying to find its identity and fighting its own demons..
Beginning with the ‘genetic defect’ that Pakistan was born with, Babar Ayaz highlights the numerous problems faced by Pakistan today that have arisen as a result of the country’s foundation being based on religion. What Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah managed to achieve as a separate homeland in August 1947 is today being consumed by religious fanaticism. Ayaz attributes such a state of affairs to the Islamization of Pakistani laws, which are in conflict with the twenty-first century value systems. The author next pinpoints how Jinnah failed to recognize the ethno-linguistic diversity of the Pakistan he had created, which needed proper distribution of power between the Centre and the states in the then-existent West Pakistan and East Pakistan. He describes how the centralization of power and the imposition of a single language for both wings of the country led to the dismemberment of Pakistan and the creation of Bangladesh in 1971.
The book also analyzes the ‘unwritten national security policy’ of Pakistan and how it has dictated its foreign policy. Relations with the US, India, China, Saudi Arabia, Iran and Afghanistan are discussed vis-a-vis the overall national security policy. The author contends that the rise of fundamentalism is a global phenomenon, but in Pakistan, it has given birth to a plethora of Islamic militant groups covertly supported by the Pakistani intelligence services. Pakistan has been branded as ‘the most dangerous state of the world’ and the ‘epicentre of terrorism’. He laments the fact that attempts to present the peaceful side of Islam are extremely feeble because of the dominance of the pro-jihad elements, which are pushing the country into a civil war-like situation.
In spite of several years of attempts at indoctrination of the people through mass media and educational institutions, in Pakistan, the anti-Indian feelings and extreme stands on Kashmir have been limited. Ayaz believes that India and the developed world would have to help by being more accommodating and understanding, so that the people of Pakistan can re-invent their country. Without moving towards secularism, the author warns, Pakistan will remain at war with itself as it is torn between the twenty-first century and medieval religious value systems.
364 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2013
19 people are currently reading
204 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
November 20, 2017
Pakistan: From a Pakistani point of view (An unbiased book, highly recommended)
1) First of all this book is written by a Pakistani and he had done a tremendous job by remaining unbiased from the starting point till the last chapter of the book which makes the content more readable.
2) Readers will get very credible amount of information about pakistan and also about what kind of wrong history they taught to their children which makes them anti-hindu or anti-india from their childhood,and also about the mindset of the Pakistani politicians and military generals.
3) The book clearly says that the "Two nation theory" is itself a failure and religion can never be a binding force for any nation,and which clearly proved in the year 1971 when Bangladesh was born out of East Pakistan.
4) The author says that people in pakistan have to accept the reality that the "Two-nation theory" is a propaganda of Muslim league leaders and especially of muhammad ali Jinnah,and muslim can't constitute a nation in itself.
5) Here you also get information that in pakistan there are more madrsas as compared to schools and Pakistani government producing more mullahs every year as compared to doctors,engineers,lawyers etc.
6) The book also says that those who controls Pakistan have to accept that there nation is multi ethnic and very diverse and they can't force the so called notion on Islam by disrespecting there traditions and culture,like the imposition of Urdu language on sindhis,pashtuns & Baloch's who have there own languages.
7) At last i will say anyone who really want good and unbiased content on pakistan should read this book,it will help u in understanding pakistan much better and also u realise the reason of so much of conflict and chaos in this so called "land of pure".
I hope u like the review,thanks for reading."Jai hind.
1) First of all this book is written by a Pakistani and he had done a tremendous job by remaining unbiased from the starting point till the last chapter of the book which makes the content more readable.
2) Readers will get very credible amount of information about pakistan and also about what kind of wrong history they taught to their children which makes them anti-hindu or anti-india from their childhood,and also about the mindset of the Pakistani politicians and military generals.
3) The book clearly says that the "Two nation theory" is itself a failure and religion can never be a binding force for any nation,and which clearly proved in the year 1971 when Bangladesh was born out of East Pakistan.
4) The author says that people in pakistan have to accept the reality that the "Two-nation theory" is a propaganda of Muslim league leaders and especially of muhammad ali Jinnah,and muslim can't constitute a nation in itself.
5) Here you also get information that in pakistan there are more madrsas as compared to schools and Pakistani government producing more mullahs every year as compared to doctors,engineers,lawyers etc.
6) The book also says that those who controls Pakistan have to accept that there nation is multi ethnic and very diverse and they can't force the so called notion on Islam by disrespecting there traditions and culture,like the imposition of Urdu language on sindhis,pashtuns & Baloch's who have there own languages.
7) At last i will say anyone who really want good and unbiased content on pakistan should read this book,it will help u in understanding pakistan much better and also u realise the reason of so much of conflict and chaos in this so called "land of pure".
I hope u like the review,thanks for reading."Jai hind.
January 10, 2014
Reading the preface I got a distinct impression that the author was sidling more towards India than Pakistan. Citing reasons for Indians not trusting Pakistan the author never mentioned over 90000 Pakistani army captives held in India after the 1971 war. A war which India has always claimed that it fought out of goodwill, after feeling the pain of Bengalis! Can Pakistanis trust Indians after their 1971 intrusion into East Pakistan?
Pakistanis have to be the most self critical people in the whole world, probably because a independence was too easy for them, and anything easy has no real sense of achievement I guess. The author seems to have spent a lifetime defaming Pakistan and blames the ideology and founding fathers at having set Pakistan on the wrong course right from its inception. There are contradictions in his arguments, like while it is true that Muslims were never a minority in India even when they ruled (in India), could they have ruled in a democracy as a minority? Let's consider the current wider world, which minority is in power in any democratic country of the world? Babur sahib, let's give a bit more credit to our forefathers.
I fear Babur Sahib has not really tried to understand the real reason for the creation of a separate country, it was never religion, it was always about true political power, in which religious rhetoric made excellent political sense. Muslims have a long history of using Islam with their military adventures, and they are certainly not unique there. The forefathers of Pakistan realised that majority Hindus would too astute to hand over representative power to a Muslim minority, actually the Hindu leadership wanted all of the power for themselves therefore sincere proposals like the Cripps plan were rejected by the Congress. Therefore the Muslims decided to go separate way, and the Hindu forefathers looked the other way. Why did the Congress agree to the Partition of 1947? What changed between 1937 and 1947? Couldn't Nehru have rejected the Partition plan and risked civil war? Would any resulting bloodshed be any lesser than the Partition bloodshed in 1947?
Author seems to make historical deductions based on little research I am afraid. Chapters are short filled with one sided arguments with rich quotations from books. If there were Muslim elites running politics than there had to be Hindu elites as well, of which there is no mention. There are huge gaps in the arguments. Why for instance wasn't the Unionist party wooed by the Congress in the Punjab? Maybe the Hindu political elites had already decided to amputate the infected limb? Alright forget Punjab, why wasn't the Frontier Ghandi, Badshah Khan not given due rank among the Congress elites? I mean here was a Pathan who had built a huge following based on Ghandijis non violent ideology but still sidelined by the Hindu elites, do I need to elaborate any further?
The only positive aspect of the book is that it is very liberating, as no nation can make progress without reflecting on its past. This book is probably a reaction to years of nationalistic Pakistani propaganda fed to the masses sponsored by successive military regimes.
I understand that the Pakistanis went a bit overboard with patriotism but isn't every nation guilty of the same? If Pakistan was not created in the name of Islam than what was it created for? Another India perhaps Babur sahib?
Pakistanis have to be the most self critical people in the whole world, probably because a independence was too easy for them, and anything easy has no real sense of achievement I guess. The author seems to have spent a lifetime defaming Pakistan and blames the ideology and founding fathers at having set Pakistan on the wrong course right from its inception. There are contradictions in his arguments, like while it is true that Muslims were never a minority in India even when they ruled (in India), could they have ruled in a democracy as a minority? Let's consider the current wider world, which minority is in power in any democratic country of the world? Babur sahib, let's give a bit more credit to our forefathers.
I fear Babur Sahib has not really tried to understand the real reason for the creation of a separate country, it was never religion, it was always about true political power, in which religious rhetoric made excellent political sense. Muslims have a long history of using Islam with their military adventures, and they are certainly not unique there. The forefathers of Pakistan realised that majority Hindus would too astute to hand over representative power to a Muslim minority, actually the Hindu leadership wanted all of the power for themselves therefore sincere proposals like the Cripps plan were rejected by the Congress. Therefore the Muslims decided to go separate way, and the Hindu forefathers looked the other way. Why did the Congress agree to the Partition of 1947? What changed between 1937 and 1947? Couldn't Nehru have rejected the Partition plan and risked civil war? Would any resulting bloodshed be any lesser than the Partition bloodshed in 1947?
Author seems to make historical deductions based on little research I am afraid. Chapters are short filled with one sided arguments with rich quotations from books. If there were Muslim elites running politics than there had to be Hindu elites as well, of which there is no mention. There are huge gaps in the arguments. Why for instance wasn't the Unionist party wooed by the Congress in the Punjab? Maybe the Hindu political elites had already decided to amputate the infected limb? Alright forget Punjab, why wasn't the Frontier Ghandi, Badshah Khan not given due rank among the Congress elites? I mean here was a Pathan who had built a huge following based on Ghandijis non violent ideology but still sidelined by the Hindu elites, do I need to elaborate any further?
The only positive aspect of the book is that it is very liberating, as no nation can make progress without reflecting on its past. This book is probably a reaction to years of nationalistic Pakistani propaganda fed to the masses sponsored by successive military regimes.
I understand that the Pakistanis went a bit overboard with patriotism but isn't every nation guilty of the same? If Pakistan was not created in the name of Islam than what was it created for? Another India perhaps Babur sahib?
February 12, 2015
It's hard to rate a book especially that on history and politics bathed in blood. Nevertheless i rate it 5 for it boldly unearths the reasons behind the challenges (even existential to some) that Pakistan faces today, and that too courageously. Now it may sound quite simplistic that how a single concept, reduced to a few words of "Two nations theory" can be responsible for the deep morass that Pakistan today finds itself in, but for most part of the history it has been extremist ideologies often mixed with political ambition and or economic greed, that have been responsible for the blood baths. As for Pakistan once formed on the foundation of religious divide, support of religious leaders and militant blackmail (Direct action), it was always going to be difficult to ensure a secular nation. Therefore as the time progressed Pakistani army along with the ruling elite chose to keep the fire of India-Pakistan religious divide burning. In the process creating institutions (Islamization of Pakistan by Zia-ul-haq, Terrorist organizations bred on religious hatred)which have kept the flame of hatred burning and consuming Pakistan itself in the process. Above mentioned issues are a few of those in the book along with the recurring theme that unless Pakistan accepts its foundational folly, it will always be beset with terrorism, communal hatred and will continue to be a perilous security state.
June 1, 2021
One of the best books I have read on Pakistan. It touches almost all the issues Pakistan is facing in a critical way. It can be a best resource for a critical analysis of Pakistan.
Strongly recommended.
Strongly recommended.
January 31, 2015
You would always look Pakistan with speculations until you read the account of Mr Ayaz and read what why Pakistan is what it is today. I recommend this book which gives clear acccount and the content is impervious of any biased feelings.
January 18, 2014
Good book for those who are un biased. put u in the course of questions . indeed truth is always bitter.. and its bitter truth
August 6, 2015
Sums up the reasons why Pakistan is on the verge of destruction and presents a viable solution. An excellent book for a quick fact check. Recommended.
March 13, 2016
Well written and informative
January 18, 2015
Patriots certainly won't like it.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews