What Is Pakistan?

As you read this lament for Pakistan by Asha Amirali at Al Jazeera:

Crisis is now passé in Pakistan. Admittedly, the current standoff between the authoritarian populist Imran Khan and the military has an element of novelty to it, but even in the most dramatic scenario, it will likely end with not much more than regime change and some further weakening — though not annihilation — of the military’s outsized political role.

This might be significant in the long run, but only if the social forces that move into the ceded political space do something different – and difficult – with it. This remains highly unlikely.

you might want to keep two things in mind. The first is the old quip: “Pakistan is a government without a country”. The other is an observation by an acquaintance of mine: “Some day the Pakistanis will wake up and learn to their astonishment that they are and always have been Chinese”.

1 comment… add one
  • TastyBits Link

    As usual, I am “a day late and a dollar short.”

    If I am not mistaken, Pakistan is northeastern India, and it was carved out for the Muslims after their Independence from the British Empire.

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