Cracking the Pakistan puzzle

A former Pakistan ambassador to the United States from 2008 to 2011, high commissioner to Sri Lanka in the early 1990s and also counted by some as amongst the advisors to former prime ministers Nawaz Sharif and Benazir Bhutto, Hussain Haqqani writes, therefore, with an insider's feel. Elegantly structured and written, serious yet accessible and commonsensical in approach, the book is less a reimagining of Pakistan's future than a searing indictment of its past and present.

Reimagining Pakistan delves further into areas that would be familiar to those who have read Haqqani's earlier writings or indeed other critiques from the country's embattled liberals. Peppering the narrative are descriptions and insights into Pakistan's chronic insecurity syndrome, a mindset of denial and victimhood, a sense of entitlement vis-a-vis the outside world and finally the compulsive need for parity with India. To this cocktail is added the potion of religious nationalism and confrontation with India. From all this have emerged certain quintessentially Pakistani policy approaches-supporting extremists and terrorists to address key ideological obsessions, 'securing Kashmir, balancing India and dominating Afghanistan'.

This broadly is the prism within which Haqqani presents Pakistan's history and its current preoccupations. In the nurturing of each of these pathologies, Pakistan's military plays a key role. Yet, in this book, Haqqani's focus is not so much on the military, although it figures prominently, as on mindsets and thought processes. A military-led national discourse is, therefore, the reason why 'Pakistan has had difficulty in conceiving its identity and direction beyond thinking of hard security and living with a permanent sense of insecurity'. A stagnant economy and poor social indicators amidst heavy military spending make up one set of consequences. A 'history of group think' and a 'paranoid view of history' form another.

In this savagely sombre analysis, noticeably thinner yet nevertheless present, are prescriptions on transforming a 'dysfunctional nuclear state'. For a start, elimination of jihadi terrorism and a 'shift away from ideological to functional nationalism'. Then Pakistan must overcome 'archaic notions of national security' and think of itself as a 'trading rather than a warring nation': India and Afghanistan would then be major trading partners and Pakistan itself the hub of goods, hydrocarbons and services flowing between India, the Middle East and Central Asia. In addition, there is the importance of acknowledging 'its Indian heritage as well'. A Pakistan reimagined in this fashion does not necessarily 'embrace Jacobin secularism', but only recognises that 'the individual can be pious, the society can be religious but the state should be non-confessional'. Through such steps Pakistan could change course much as 'Germany and Japan did after 1945 and China after 1989'. While instances such as the decision to execute the assassin of governor Salman Taseer show the 'potential for rational decision-making', Haqqani remains bleak about the future of major course correction: 'There is, however, no sign that such thinking is underway.' In his words, 'aggressive rejection of reproach and insistence on victimhood insulates the Pakistani public from recognising that anything in Pakistan needs fundamental revision'.

That his and others' advice will not be heeded is also part of the syndrome described so ably in this book and which all those interested in our neighbour should read.

(The writer is a former Indian high commissioner to Pakistan)