State of chaos

In its chequered history, Pakistan has endured tur-bulent times, and today it faces some of its biggest challenges: governance of a nation comprising five disparate entities—Punjab, Sind, Baluchistan, Pashtunistan and Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK)— the extremist monster created by it in the 1970s and 1980s, political instability and, to top it all, a collapsing economy.

- GENERAL J.J. SINGH (RETD)

In desperation, Pakistan’s army chief, General Qamar Javed Bajwa, had in July personally appealed to the US to release $1.7 billion, to help Pakistan’s bailout accord with the International Monetary Fund. Though it is learnt that the US has once again helped Pakistan, it must be understood that such benevolence comes at a huge cost. Even its closest ally, China, is no longer ready to give Islamabad interest-free financial packages.

Discussing India-Pakistan relations and Pakistan’s obsession with the ‘core issue of Kashmir’ in 2007 with Stephen Cohen, a renowned scholar and Pakistan expert, I commented that ‘the uncontrolled activities of jihadi organisations all over Pakistan, particularly in the Af-Pak border region, had made it the fountainhead of Islamic extremism and terror’. The disastrous consequences of lack of governance, tottering economy, inherent societal schisms and deep-rooted contradictions cannot be wished away. A nuclear-capable Pakistan, which is at war internally and wrestling to remain afloat, has become a concern for the security not only of South Asia, but also the whole world.