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“Our times are rich in memoirs, perhaps richer than ever before. It is because there is much to tell. The more dramatic and rich in change the epoch, the more intense the interest in current history.” –Leon Trotsky
Being in the eye of the storm in geopolitics has its downsides and its benefits. This holds especially true if you are a writer or simply a foreign correspondent sent to cover a volatile country like Pakistan. After the attacks of September 11 2001 in the United States and with the subsequent war in Afghanistan, much of the world’s attention focused on Pakistan and its image as a breeding ground for extremism and militancy. The country has longed been called a dysfunctional state or simply a failed state by westerners.
Pamela Constable in her book “Playing with Fire: Pakistan at War with Itself” seeks to dispel some of these preconceived notions and tries to navigate for the lay person the vast labyrinth that is Pakistan’s politics and society. Her resume as a journalist is impressive, being a former correspondent for the Boston Globe and now working for the Washington Post. As a foreign correspondent she has reported from Central and South America, with a particular focus on Chile during the grim years of the Pinochet dictatorship, as well as parts of the former Soviet Union.
Now she turns her focus to Pakistan, where there is indeed much to write about. In 11 straightforward yet riveting chapters she describes the country’s recent history. The chapters are almost in bullet form a summary of Pakistan’s political setup and the ghosts that have been haunting it ever since its birth in 1947. Constable presents us a nation with much vitality and brimming with talent, yet at the same time unable to throw off the shackles that have prevented it from becoming a dynamo which she says the country has the potential to be.
In her view the entire environment in Pakistan is one of almost borderline schizophrenia, where people are quite sure of themselves but somehow are still confused at their present predicament. Where conspiracy theories about bomb attacks and political instability have a simple answer in foreign hands and xenophobic nationalism. Where bad governance and a strong military establishment have both limped the country throughout its history, and left the disenfranchised populace as mere spectators.
Each chapter acts as a tour guide to the problems that are affecting Pakistan. From feudalism to corruption and injustice, she weaves a story of how the people of Pakistan have been let down time and again by the ruling and indifferent elite and have somehow resigned themselves to a fate from which they cannot extricate themselves. Pamela Constable has interviewed many people while writing this book, including social workers like Abdul Sattar Edhi and politicians like Humayun Akhtar and Abida Hussain, who incidentally belong to the feudal and industrial class that she brings under the spotlight.
Each person that she interviews brings forth their own insight to the problems in Pakistan and their own solutions which on the face of it may seem different but are not really so. People, who are part of the status quo and those who are opposed to it, all agree that the system needs to change if the country is to survive. Some favor gradual evolution in the democratic process, while others, specifically militants, want a violent revolution to overhaul the entire system. All have answers but no real tangible solution. Constable interviews lawyers who berate the slow and rotten judicial system that denies people justice and ordinary people who know that merit and potential have no value in their society. It’s simply an environment where bribery and corruption have become a way of life and people seem to have a warped sense of right and wrong.
There is much truth about what Constable writes, particularly about how people have been brutalised by an unfair system and an indifferent ruling class. The country does not seem to have any role models that younger people can look up to. This holds particularly true when we are talking about politicians. Yet while balancing juggling all the balls of extremism, floods, the army and the role of women in society, she still sees much promise in Pakistan. She still sees the possibility of finding a way back to the Pakistan that Jinnah envisioned at its founding in 1947.
Its has been said that Pakistan is not a poor country, but simply a poorly managed country. Pamela Constable adheres to this point of view. She rejects the notion that Pakistan is a failed state, although she accepts the argument that it is dysfunctional. Nevertheless that does not prevent the nation from reaching its full potential. In her view the country can come to the same level as vibrant and democratic countries like Turkey, Indonesia and even our neighbor India. How Pakistanis are going to reach that goal is something we are going to have to figure out ourselves.
One criticism that must be pointed in the book is that although the author tries to be objective and keep an open mind about the subject matter, there is still an air of the outsider in her writing where culture shock and looking at Pakistan through the Western standard is found a number of times. Even the title of the book, portrays the country through a rather hostile and menacing prism. Another note to be made is there are a number of factual errors in the book, including the size of the Christian population in Pakistan, which she numbers at around 20 per cent when in fact it is just over 2 per cent. Another mistake she makes is when she mentions Jihad as one of the five pillars of Islam, which it is not.
Nevertheless, these small errors aside, its still a superb book and a must read for anyone interested in the contemporary history of Pakistan and the important role the country has to play in current geopolitics.
The writer is a journalist at Dawn.com
