Skip to content

March 16, 2011

Future of Pakistan

Qaisar Sultan

There seems to be “Pakiphobia” in West, especially in USA. Two recent published articles have stabbing negativity of the present and future of Pakistan; and it is not amiable. First article was published in Wall Street journal, written by Sadanand Dhume; he is an Indian born journalists. Though he is levelheaded in his analysis in his article, “The Myth of Moderate Pakistan” shouts out Indian and Hindu bias that cannot set off without a cautious repudiation of detrimental intentions. There is no doubt that a small segment of our society has succumbed to a noxious view of religion; but we have a great number that refuse to support and vote for them. The problems our extremists have created come to haunt us at every step of the Pakistani reputation. The murder of Pearl, a Wall Street Journal journalist, turned the newspaper against the environment in a country that they felt encouraged killings. In turn they allowed and endorsed the probing into the crisis in an extremist state as they see it know or  pinpointing the extremism of a country that has tolerated and created a milieu of incidences of slitting throats, bombing and killing of innocent men, women and children, blowing up girl’s schools, market places, torture and mayhem. The second article is written by a supposedly friend of Pakistan, Stephen P. Cohen, a think-tank with Brooking Institute; he has also written a book, “The Idea of Pakistan”. In his article, Future of Pakistan, he seems to be very pessimistic about the future of Pakistan. Cohen writes, “Pakistan could be a major disruptive force in Southeast and Southwest and Central Asia, ruining India’s rise and destabilize Persian Gulf and Central Asian region”. He also pointed out that Pakistan has fallen deep into the abyss of ethnic and religious view of its political existence; and the possibility of a moderate, reasonably secular and competitive state is out of reach. He predicted, “Revival of insurgency will take place, given the absence of real economic growth and the weakness of political institutions”. The foreign policy reports have indicated that Pakistan has posed the greatest threat of terrorism to West. Most of the indicators in terms of human development, down to 141 at the bottom, the disliking level in the West for Pakistan are at number three; Iran and North Korea are the most disliked countries in West. The biggest concern is that Pakistan is a nuclear state; if religious groups take over the government, the world may face a real threat to the security of the region and the world. Pakistan is not a happy place to live; on happiness Index, Pakistan is at the bottom of all Southeast Asia countries, 112 in ranking; Bangladesh is 41. All these statics suggest as if we are reading the demise of a nation; that has been almost predicted by Stephen Cohen. Read More »Future of Pakistan