Recommended read along with other books about Pakistan.
THREE CUPS OF TEA
AMONG MUSLIMS
WHERE THE INDUS IS YOUNG
ALIVE AND WELL IN PAKISTAN
THE GREAT GAME

The book is well laid out. First focusing on Pakistan's history and than into its political insitutions. It is well written trying to explain what Pakistan is considering it is an aftifical country. By that I mean it is a country based on an idea but that idea is not well fleshed out. A religon competing with ethnic tensions plus the history of being part of the British Empire. Mr. cohen also lays out how the United States ought to address our relationship with Pakistan which is quite insightful.I would highly recommend this book.

This is an interesting book that helps to illuminate many of Pakistans faces. The face of militarism, the various coups and dictators that have ruled the country such as Zia and Musharref. It highlights the politicians such as Ali Bhutto and his daughter Benezir as well as Newaz Sharif and Ali Jinnah. The role of Islamism is explained as well as the role of Sharia and Islamic law in Pakistan. There is some discussion as to the inter-ethnic and tribal problems of the country.



But this book lacks something and that seems to be honesty facing the brutal reality and the true history. Pakistan and India were born in the same manner, and yet one became a fascist religious dictatorship for most of its life, stoning women who are victims of rape, with radical terrorists using it as a base to murder innocent civilians abroad and overthrow neighboring countries. With Islam as a national religion it proceeded under fundamentalism to ethnically and religiously cleansed itself of every minority and made it illegal to 'defame' the 'prophet'. Meanwhile India remained mutli-religious and democratic. Why? This book does not dare provide the answers.



There is no talk of how Pakistan was born either, how it was born in blood over the graves of over 100,000 Hindus and SIkhs murdered, and over the forced removal of millions of Sikh and Hindu refugees forced to flee Pakistan so that Pakistan would be 100% Muslim by 1949 while India would be only 75% Hindu.



So the pulling of punches and businesslike way this book is written leaves the reader wondering what else is missing.



Seth J. Frantzman

This is an interesting book that helps to illuminate many of Pakistans faces. The face of militarism, the various coups and dictators that have ruled the country such as Zia and Musharref. It highlights the politicians such as Ali Bhutto and his daughter Benezir as well as Newaz Sharif and Ali Jinnah. The role of Islamism is explained as well as the role of Sharia and Islamic law in Pakistan. There is some discussion as to the inter-ethnic and tribal problems of the country.

But this book lacks something and that seems to be honesty facing the brutal reality and the true history. Pakistan and India were born in the same manner, and yet one became a fascist religious dictatorship for most of its life, stoning women who are victims of rape, with radical terrorists using it as a base to murder innocent civilians abroad and overthrow neighboring countries. With Islam as a national religion it proceeded under fundamentalism to ethnically and religiously cleansed itself of every minority and made it illegal to 'defame' the 'prophet'. Meanwhile India remained mutli-religious and democratic. Why? This book does not dare provide the answers.

There is no talk of how Pakistan was born either, how it was born in blood over the graves of over 100,000 Hindus and SIkhs murdered, and over the forced removal of millions of Sikh and Hindu refugees forced to flee Pakistan so that Pakistan would be 100% Muslim by 1949 while India would be only 75% Hindu.

So the pulling of punches and businesslike way this book is written leaves the reader wondering what else is missing.

Seth J. Frantzman

This is an interesting book that helps to illuminate many of Pakistans faces. The face of militarism, the various coups and dictators that have ruled the country such as Zia and Musharref. It highlights the politicians such as Ali Bhutto and his daughter Benezir as well as Newaz Sharif and Ali Jinnah. The role of Islamism is explained as well as the role of Sharia and Islamic law in Pakistan. There is some discussion as to the inter-ethnic and tribal problems of the country.

But this book lacks something and that seems to be honesty facing the brutal reality and the true history. Pakistan and India were born in the same manner, and yet one became a fascist religious dictatorship for most of its life, stoning women who are victims of rape, with radical terrorists using it as a base to murder innocent civilians abroad and overthrow neighboring countries. With Islam as a national religion it proceeded under fundamentalism to ethnically and religiously cleansed itself of every minority and made it illegal to 'defame' the 'prophet'. Meanwhile India remained mutli-religious and democratic. Why? This book does not dare provide the answers.

There is no talk of how Pakistan was born either, how it was born in blood over the graves of over 100,000 Hindus and SIkhs murdered, and over the forced removal of millions of Sikh and Hindu refugees forced to flee Pakistan so that Pakistan would be 100% Muslim by 1949 while India would be only 75% Hindu.

So the pulling of punches and businesslike way this book is written leaves the reader wondering what else is missing.

Seth J. Frantzman

One criticism of the book is that he mentions how the country was overrun with guns, drugs and afghans after the afghan war but fails to mention who supplied the guns and helped organize the drugs, probably because it was his own country. This is an important issue because afghans drugs and guns are the main reason behind the deteriorating security situation in the country today.

The author also appears to swallow the Indian view of the kashmir conflict post 1989, i would like to see evidence of this so-called "proxy war". If the source is Indian then obviously it has to be mistrusted, and i suspect his sources are Indian since this is the language used by Indian officials.


Aside from that it is not a bad book and i feel it will benefit pakistanis to read it, but if you are a foriegner and you want to understand pakistan then you need to read other material as well such as the lonely planet guide to pakistan, which focusses more on Pakistan's culture instead of its government.

Despite the criticism I gave the book three stars because in the end I enjoyed reading it and learned a few things as well.

Its written by a seasoned and established scholar on Pakistan. The book, more analytical in its approach in comparison to other recent works on Pakistan, is a policy oriented discourse which is very valuable. Its much better than Steve cohen's other book on India published a few years ago.

Cohen forensically describes the Oligarchy that has run Pakistan for its own interests: the Army, the Feudals and the Bureaucracy. This book explains why Pakistan has failed to live up to the lofty ideals of its founders and how it can achive them in the future.

Cohen has the necessary qualifications and the background for this important work. His subject is critically important for the region, as also for several parts of the world. He treats the subject with neutrality and scholarly erudition, which is sometimes missing from Western works in these turbulent days.

His central theme is contained in the title of the book: The Idea of Pakistan. He describes how the idea originated, how it developed and crystallised, and the challenges that Pakistan faces today. He ends the book with a presentation on the various possible scenarios / paths that Pakistan could take.

His approach is analytical and comprehensive. The book is well-referenced and is easy to read. His writing style is neither pedantic nor casual. By the time you end the book, you will probably know a lot about Pakistan, all delivered through a systematic framework.

However, it is also difficult to retain for long what you have read in this book. This may be due to the fact that the book reads like a project report commssioned by a Corporation or a Government. Cohen does not offer you any insights, as this would perhaps be considered a professorial misdemeanor for a work such as this! Another significant issue is that he treats Pakistan as a totally modern state, and analyses it from that perspective. As a result, he ignores the cultural, economic and political legacy of Islam and Moghuls which Pakistan inherited. This gives his book a very contemporary, current-affairish feel.

In my view, his analysis of Pakistan also suffers due to this omission. The past continues to affect the present and the future. Therefore, any cultue or nation that has such an ancient past can not be undertood effectively, unless that past is also considered.

Overall, a good book.

An excellent account of history, politics, and personalities todo with Pakistan, this book provides indepth analysis of the state of Pakistan as we have it now.

Being a Pakistani professional working overseas and a byproduct of the same society which Mr Cohen concentrates in this book, I read this book thoroughly, keenly and critically. Relating every thing with my life experience in the environment where I grew up, I can sense the depth of knowledge of the author who tells us about the political history of Pakistan.

Somewhat I disagree with the author about the exagerated threat of Islamic fundamentalism in the initial few chapters however in his last few chapters he admits this and put forward some sensible policy guidelines and suggestions for the US foreign policy. Considering the recent developments I can already see the US policy makers taking a serious note of the findings, and taking a few steps towards the right direction e.g. offering F-16 to both India and Pakistan, facilitating Kashmir dialoue, providing aid to restructure Pakistani educational system, and expressing desire to see Pakistan a democratic country.

The problems which are described in this book have been pointed out and discussed in Pakistani press before, however in the absence of real democracy and people power they can't make a difference.

This is a must read book if you are a Pakistani or Indian and love to see your countries as progressive and modern countries.

My congratulations to Mr Cohen on this excellent effort.