Frontline Pakistan: The Struggle With Militant Islam by Zahid Hussain
If you are an Indian and want to understand what Pakistan has undergone and how deeply the country is embroiled in its own creation - 'terrorism' then this is the book to read. Written by a Pakistani journalist without any hint of patriotic bias it gives a clear but powerfully written timeline of the events which transformed Pakistan into a terrorist state.
If you are an Indian and want to understand what Pakistan has undergone and how deeply the country is embroiled in its own creation - 'terrorism' then this is the book to read. Written by a Pakistani journalist without any hint of patriotic bias it gives a clear but powerfully written timeline of the events which transformed Pakistan into a terrorist state.
The book starts out with the partition of Pakistan and is followed by the rise and collapse of the Bhutto government which is removed by Zia Ul Haque. Zia starts off the Islamization of the army, the educational institutions and the state agencies. It covers the birth of the ISI and its strengthening during the Zia years, followed by the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan which sees the birth of the Jihad - pitting the pious against the godless. Sponsored by the CIA and run by the ISI the Jihad radicalizes the common man and the state institutions and leads to the birth of many radical organizations.
Meanwhile the rise of the Taliban is seen by the ISI and the Pakistani Army as a godsend in their aim to achieve "Strategic Depth" against India's conventional weapons reach - this central idea was new to me and essentially revolves around the fact that India can reach into any part of Pakistan using conventional weapons and destroy any military installation. Pakistan has dreamt of an friendly Afghan government which would let it operate military bases and provide hinterlands deep in Afghanistan - out of reach of India's military capabilities.
The rise of the Taliban and the brief history of Mullah Omar followed by the histories of various radical/terrorist groups operating in and around Pakistan define the complexity of the terrorist situation in Pak. Another interesting twist is that the Pak Military's affinity with the Taliban ideology of militant Islam and their support for Taliban receives a rude shock when the Taliban refuses to recognize the Durand line which is the border between Pak and Afghanistan - Pashto population dominate both sides of the border and have never seen the border as a final agreement. The rise of Parvez Musharraf is also described well in the book.
9/11 changed things radically when the Pak military was forced into going after and destroying the very terrorist groups they had helped setup. The unappreciative Americans with their "You are with us or against us" again demonstrates the inability of the Americans to see the million shades of gray that exist in the ideological and political mess that is today Pakistan. Musharrafs support for the Americans (Under pressure from the US) has brought him in direct confrontation with the radicals, the army, the mullahs and the terrorist organization not to mention the Taliban - it will be interesting to see how this plays out as each has thier own agenda
Other interesting things in this book are about the Sunni vs Shia terrorist groups killing Pakistani civilians, the Nuclear black market dealings of the Pakistani scientists, the attempts on Musharrafs life and the nuclear standoff betw India and Pak after the bombing of the parliament by terrorists in India.
Must read for all Indians
