Pakistan

Pakistan Synopsis

This volume, authored by Pakistani and Western scholars, focuses on a related set of questions. The first concern the ethnic tensions within Pakistan. The Mohajir movement is examined as well as the Pashtun and Baloch nationalisms.

One of the main reasons for the centrifugal forces lies in the 'Punjabization' of the country that is also scrutinized. The second focus is on the country's complex position within the South Asian region. Kashmir has been for years the main bone of contention between India and Pakistan..

Since the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan twenty years ago, Pakistan has been also one of the main players in the Afghan war; especially after it supported the Taleban. Regional tensions are obviously related to ethnic and sectarian conflicts within the country. Tehran supports those Shia groups involved in violent conflicts with their Sunni counterparts in Punjab.

And the Pashtuns of the North West Frontier Province have always entertained close links with their Afghan 'brothers'. The volume concludes by examining Pakistan's foreign policy, including the dialectic between domestic and foreign policy and the role of the army. Pakistan: Nationalism without a Nation shows how Pakistan is involved in regional tensions and how it is itself undermined by a high level of ethnic tension.

The book provides an up-to- date account of the country's extraordinarily complicated political tapestry which throws up so many questions - the definition of identity, the intersection of religious and ethnic factors, a deeply flawed institutionalization of democracy, control of the state, and the potentially explosive interaction of regional and domestic politics.