Book review- The Pakistan Paradox: Instability and Resilience

The Pakistan Paradox: Instability and Resilience By Christophe Jaffrelot
PAGES: 670
PRICE: Rs 695
Random House India

A deeply researched account of Pakistan, this book is an attempt to make sense of what drives the country and where it is headed. The author posits that centralisation, democratisation and Islamisation are the three sources of the 'paradox'. The first recounts the emergence of separatism that led to the creation of a nation; the second, evolution of the state and polity; and the third, the continuing contest for the soul of the nation between contending forces, including the jihadists.

Christophe Jaffrelot seeks to explain Pakistan's chronic 'multi-sectoral instability' denoted by cyclical ethnic conflicts and exacerbated by the Islamist pull in terms of history and sociology. He identifies the tensions as arising from: the contradiction between a unitary state and strong provincial ethnic identity; authoritarianism and democracy; contending concepts of Islam. Jaffrelot points to Pakistan's compulsion to conjure up and sustain an external threat to contain internal conflicts.

In recent years, the strategy to 'bleed' India has evolved as the concept of 'Strategic Depth' vis-a-vis Afghanistan. There is extensive documentation - in large part from Pakistani sources - to expose the lip service, eye-wash, double-speak, double-dealing, in the face of which 'plausible deniability' regarding Pakistan's adventurism is no longer sustainable. Yet, there is a credulous international community out there which, time and again, renews the lease of life to Pakistan in the belief that the leopard can, indeed, change its spots.

Pakistan has discovered, but not been deterred by, the heavy, unanticipated costs: military, financial, drugs and, most menacingly, the jihadists. Normalisation with India remains stalled. The Taliban has served as Pakistan's proxy but has also been a client of the Al Qaeda. The jihadists are willing instruments to do Pakistan's bidding (in J&K, for instance); they also fight Pakistan when their interests are threatened. From being a trusted ally, Pakistan, in the words of Mullah Zaeef, the Taliban Ambassador to Pakistan, is regarded as a 'cancer' on the Afghan body politic. It sought to control all talks it "participated in or mediated".

Domestically, the state's securitisation has resulted in the army taking on a dominant role; civilians have got relegated to the background. As it was, [Pakistan's founder Muhammad Ali] Jinnah's insistence on parity between minority and majority made it difficult for democracy, based on the principle of majority rule, to take root. Civilians have been insufficiently democratic; the military insufficiently authoritarian. The public welcomed the periodic replacement of one with the other. Now, the facade is civilian; power rests with the army, a pointer to future dispensations.

Islam remains the most contentious, and potentially the most threatening, tension. Jinnah had endorsed sharia as the basis of law in Pakistan. Once the country became an Islamic Republic, the march towards Islamism was inexorable. Sectarian conflict is endemic, threatening a vertical split. Over decades, successive regimes have allied with, and provided sustenance to, Islamist forces. The genie can no longer be put back in the bottle. One awaits the denouement.

Jaffrelot concludes that Pakistan, despite the 'paradoxes', remains resilient. Whether one is in agreement or not, he has amassed a wealth of historical and contemporary material that should make this book beneficial reading - despite the length - for lay readers and scholars alike.

The reviewer is India's ex-ambassador to France and Germany, and a Pakistan expert