Pakistan: a failed state - AN OVERVIEW

1. Pakistan: a failed state-AN OVERVIEW

2. Noam Chomsky’s paradigm example of a failed state • Noted philosopher and political activist Noam Chomsky has said Pakistan is a "paradigm example of a failed state" that has undergone an "extremely dangerous form of radical Islamisation". • The country is now in danger of "collapsing" as it grapples with rebellion, militancy and extremism that is "getting worse" and the assassination of former premier Benazir Bhutto might increase unrest in Sindh and FATA, Chomsky told the a newspaper in an interview

3. Gilani’s counter-accusation • Prime Minister YousufRazaGilani has strongly rejected the impression that Pakistan was a failed state, and said the country's all vital institutions were functioning properly. • Addressing a special session on Pakistan and its neighbours, Gilani termed it "unfair" on part of the international community to view Pakistan as a failed state and said country's Constitution, parliament, judiciary and the media were indicators of the fact that it was not a failed state.

4. Islamic Republic of Pakistan اسلامی جمہوریہ پاکِستانIslāmī Jumhūrī-ye Pākistān • Flag State Emblem 'Motto: 'اتحاد، تنظيم، يقين مُحکمIttehad, Tanzeem, Yaqeen-e-Muhkam  (Urdu)"Unity, Discipline and Faith“ • Anthem: قومی ترانہQaumī Tarāna • Capital IslamabadLargest city Karachi • Official language(s) Urdu (National) EnglishRegional languagesPunjabi, Pashto, Sindhi, Seraiki and Balochi • Founder Muhammad Ali Jinnah  -  • PresidentAsif Zardari (PPP)  -  Prime MinisterYousaf Gillani (PPP)  -  Chief JusticeIftikhar Chaudhry  -  Chair of SenateFarooq Naek (PPP) • Islamic republic 23 March 1956 

5. Provinces • Balochistan • Khyber Pakhtunkhwa • Punjab • Sindh • Territories • Islamabad • Federally Administered Tribal Areas • Azad Jammu and Kashmir • Gilgit-Baltistan

6. Army-Centric development • With India having a population that is seven times as big as that of Pakistan, the Indian army should have been at least three or four times the size of the Pakistan army. But that is not the case; the Indian army is less than one and a half times as big as the Pakistani army. That is because, since independence India has spent relatively more on development and less on defence while Pakistan has spent almost everything on arms and very little on development.

7. Population • The Pakistani paper the Jang reported in September 2003 • Pakistan's population will swell to 349 million by year 2050, making it the fourth most populated country in the world • The population growth has caused an eight-time increase in the unemployment...With almost one third of the population living in abject poverty, 54 million people do not have access to safe drinking water ... 53.5 million are illiterates. The population explosion has led to the shortage of educational facilities, health services, housing units, food, living space, arable land and clean water

8. Social Structure • In an editorial in the Indian Express that appeared on January 28th 2002, VP Dutt wrote: • Another fundamental flaw is the very narrow social base of the ruling elite. Pakistan is ruled by four interest groups or their coalition: military, bureaucracy, the feudal lords and the industrial barons. Making up the nucleus of these four interest groups, it is believed, are a dozen corps commanders, nearly 2,000 landlords owning more than half the cultivable land, a cadre of nearly 1,000 officers and less than 50 industrial families. It is they who own Pakistan and rule in the name of the people.

10. Middle class? • A curious anomaly of Pakistan is the almost complete absence of a "middle class". The middle class in Pakistan have been estimated as being about 10 to 12 million in total forming about 8% of the population. The contrast with India now is stunning with estimates of the middle class in India forming about 25 to 30% of the population. • A large middle class is an indicator of the development of a society from the traditional feudal pattern into a more modern society.

11. Education • The state of education in Pakistan was described by Raymond Bonner in the New York Times on 31st March 2002: • Pakistan's literacy rate ranks below that of countries like Haiti, Rwanda and Sudan, according to the most recent United Nations Development Program report. • Pakistan's most recent budget sets aside $107 million for education, compared with $2 billion for the military.

12. Madrassa Education • According to Dr. Tariq Rahman, Professor of Linguistics and South Asian Studies, Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad, Pakistan had only 137 madrassas in 1947. Dr. Rahman writes of Pakistani madrassas- • In 1950 there were 210 of them while in 1971 they increased to 563. Nowadays there are at least 7000 of them. After the 1971 war of liberation of Bangladesh, the process of making Pakistanis more Islamic, the so called Islamization of Pakistan was given impetus. It was initiated by Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, and the Pakistani General Zia ulHaq who removed Bhutto in a coup and later hanged him, accelerated the process. The exact number of madrassas cannot be known because of the lack of registration or census. • But during the Cold War, the number of madrassas burgeoned rapidly and tens of thousands were set up offering only a narrow interpretation of Islam in which young people were indoctrinated into the concept of a violent jihad against unbelievers, and taught to believe that death on the battlefield fighting against the enemies of Islam such as the Soviet Union would ensure eternal paradise for the Islamic fighters.

13. Curricula in schools • The following quotes are taken from an in depth study of what Pakistani school children are being taught in a compilation entitled The Subtle Subversion - The State of Curricula and Textbooks in Pakistan by A.H. Nayyar and Ahmed Salim : • Madrassas are not the only institutions breeding hate, intolerance, a distorted world view, etc. The educational material in the government run schools do much more than madrassas. The textbooks tell lies, create hate, incite for jehad and shahadat, and much more. Children are now taught that the history of Pakistan starts from the day the first Muslim set foot in India. History and Pakistan studies textbooks rarely mention the ancient and non-controversial cultures of the Indus valley (Moenjodaro, Harrappa and Kot Diji), and completely bypass the entire Buddhist and Hindu periods of history. • A call for change was made by Pakistani Federal Minister for Education Ms Zobaida Jalal in a statement published in the Pakistan Tribune online in March 2004 • a committee has been constituted to work out recommendations for deletion of material from curricula which is aimed at fomenting hatred against India adding that the committee will submit its recommendations within a month. Several social organizations have raised objection that hatred is fanned against India through the curricula of educational institutions in Pakistan. Government has set up a committee to look into the matter and send its recommendations within a month

14. Economy and exports • Pakistan remains primarily an agricultural economy. Not a single wrist-watch, scooter or motorcycle has appeared on the international market with a ‘Made in Pakistan’ label on it • Diversified economies of Karachi and Punjab's urban centers, coexist with lesser developed areas in other parts of the country • The Economic crisis of 2008 led Pakistan to seek more than $100 billion in aid in order to avoid possible bankruptcy.This was never given to Pakistan and it had to depend on a more aggressive fiscal policy, backed by the IMF • Apparel and textiles accounts for nearly 60% of exports • Industry : Food processing, chemicals manufacture, and the iron and steel industries • Karachi's Orangi Township has surpassed Dharavi as Asia’s largest slum.

15. Façade of Indigenous production • Pakistani spokespersons never tire of speaking of Pakistan's indigenous missiles - given names like Hatf, Ghauriand Shaheen. These brave names may perhaps be essential for national pride, but even a cursory search of authoritative sources shows that Pakistan's Hatf, Ghauriand Shaheenmissiles are Chinese M-9 or M-11 missiles, or North Korean No-Dong missiles • Pakistani authorities have to maintain a facade of indigenous production for items that are widely known to be imported. The most likely reason for maintaining this charade of indigenous development of missiles is to obscure the fact that dangerous, nuclear capable missiles are being supplied by countries like China and North Korea to Pakistan ignoring international treaties that forbid such exports

16. Pakistan’s trouble belt • Pakistan's border region with Afghanistan serves as a safe haven for domestic and international terrorist groups. Since 9/11, it has caused tension with Kabul and sparked international security concerns. The region also poses one of the greatest challenges toward building a stable Afghanistan. The 1,600-mile border, known as the Durand Line, divides tribes of the Pashtun ethnic group on either side of Pakistan and Afghanistan. But the boundary drawn by the British in 1893 was never recognized by Afghanistan and has long been disregarded by tribal clans in the area. • The Pakistan side of the border includes the provinces of Balochistan, the North West Frontier Province, and the seven tribal agencies of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas. On the Afghan side, the frontier stretches from Nuristan province in the northeast to Nimruz in the southwest.

17. FATA • Islamabad has historically held limited power over this semiautonomous tribal region made up of seven agencies of various Pashtun tribes. It is the poorest and the least developed part of Pakistan, marked by harsh geography and scarce infrastructure. After 9/11, the area came under scrutiny over concern that terrorists, including al-Qaeda operatives, sought shelter and training there. • Under U.S. pressure, the Pakistani government has sought to control militancy by deploying thousands of Pakistani troops in the region, but it has achieved little success as militancy has grown and security across the country has deteriorated. So far, Pakistan's military strategy to deal with the insurgency has involved peace deals with militants interspersed with military offensives that employ heavy force to clear militant-held areas. In 2008, the United States started a covert program of air strikes using unmanned drone aircraft to target suspected terrorists in the tribal areas. These strikes have fueled anti-Americanism inside Pakistan. While officially the Pakistani government denounces these strikes, according to news reports these strikes have been quietly approved by the Pakistani army and the government.

18. North West Frontier Province • Pakistan’s military efforts to control extremism in the tribal areas following 9/11 had the unintended consequence of causing bloodshed in the bordering North West Frontier Province (NWFP). Suicide attacks are on the rise, and in 2009, the Pakistani government launched an aggressive military campaign to regain districts of Swat and Buner from the Taliban. • Fiercely independent Pashtuns make up the largest ethnic group in the North West Frontier Province, as well as half the population of Afghanistan. The area is thought to harbor al-Qaeda and Taliban supporters.

19. BALOCHISTAN • The Baloch tribes of this resource-rich, poverty-stricken province have long been angered over what they say is Islamabad’s failure to develop the area, the influx of Pashtuns—including Afghan refugees—and Punjabis into the area, and contamination linked to the 1998 nuclear test. A large number of Balochs live in Iran as well, leading to border tensions between the two countries. • Balochistan has seen multiple, usually ethnically driven, insurgency movements since 1948, and the Pakistani state has often used brutal military force to suppress them. More recently, these insurgencies have been driven by political and economic marginalization, with Balochis demanding greater job opportunities at the newly constructed Gwadar port as well as a greater share of royalties for gas shipped to neighboring provinces. • The ethnic Pashtun-dominated Taliban is also active throughout Balochistan, particularly in the city of Quetta. Quetta is most likely the place Osama bin Laden and Afghan Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar are hiding, according to some analysts. Several terrorist attacks, primarily of utilities and transportation targets, have been linked to the violent arm of the nationalist movement known as the Baloch Liberation Army.