Book out to inspire faith in Pakistan

ISLAMABAD, March 31: A book designed to inspire confidence in the future of Pakistan was launched here on Thursday – a refreshing idea in the aftermath of the sour defeat at Mohali overnight. In fact the launch was set for Wednesday but had to be postponed because the India-Pakistan World Cup clash held all the attention that day. That the national cricket team lost to arch rival cast no shadow on the event, hosted by the Institute of Strategic Studies Islamabad (ISSI). Pakistan: Beyond the Crisis State Dr Maleeha Lodhi, who edited and is among the 17 professionals who contributed to the book , told fellow ex-diplomats and others present at the launch that the nation showed vitality and maturity before and after the `mother of all matches`. "I watched the match in F-9 Park," she said. "It was wonderful. Thousands of people of different backgrounds were there – men, women, boisterous youth, girls in hijab, girls in jeans – but all united by one idea." "Zahid Hussain (who has written about the mortal danger that the country faces from religious extremism in the book) was with me. I asked him could his apprehensions come true and he agreed `no, not`," she said. Dr Maleeha said there was "much too much empty talk about what was wrong with Pakistan, and its society, but nothing about what could be put right". So she approached 16 persons recognised for their scholarship to pen their views on what ails Pakistan and how it could be nursed to health, for a book which the Oxford University Press agreed to publish. "They (the contributors) don`t agree on all issues but faith in Pakistan binds them all," she said. "Pakistan may need foreign assistance to address its problems but Pakistan has to provide the solutions for its problems." Her own chapter in the book deals with the country`s fractious electoral politics. "It is really the governance issue," she said, with her eyes on the next general elections and hopes pinned on the middle class. "Representative politics is out of sync with the way our society is changing. Today`s tradition-based patronage and spoils system has to give way to needs-based system," she said, adding that the political parties can adopt and pursue a national agenda set out in the book at the 2013 elections. She said she once asked Sahibzada Yaqub Khan how could a society change in the absence of a true leader and the wise man replied: "Sometimes an idea substitute for the missing leader." ISSI chairman Dr Tanvir Ahmad Khan presented an incising review of the book but highly recommended it for dispersing the negative air that has long surrounded the national discourse. He took issue with Ayesha Jalal`s views in the book. He found her "least optimistic" among the contributors about the resilience of Pakistan but one who had some hope for the country compared to American academician Stephen P. Cohen who sees a turn around "out of reach" of Pakistan and its crises creating "parallel Pakistans". Dr Tanvir also disagreed mildly with the contributors who think "the only game in town is the army", look "unrepentant believer in IMF" prescriptions which, in the words of Dr Maleeha produced "borrowed growth with its inevitable fragility", and the term "strategic clout" that former ace diplomat Munir Akram used while discussing the nuclear issue. At the end he pointedly reminded all that "hope is not policy" – only to return a little later to add that "neither is despair". His praise for "the long overdue, easy-read book of the hour that every home should have" really boosted the sale to the delight of publisher Ameena Saiyid OBE who announced plans for many more books.