ISLAMABAD: After nuclearisation in the world, superpowers have started using non state actors in proxy wars against each other, and lesser powers followed suit in doing so, said former Ambassador Akram Zaki at the launch of a book titled ‘Pakistan’s Security Problem and Challenges in the Next Decade’.

The book, launched by think tank Centre for International Strategic Studies (CISS) at Islamabad Club on Wednesday, includes chapters written by different writers including Dr Zafar Nawaz Jaspal, Dr Riffat Hussein, Ambassador Ali Sarwar Naqvi and Riaz Mohammad Khan.

Talking about the challenges to the country’s security, Mr Zaki said: “We should be prepared for prolonged instability from external sources and for this, reforms should be made in the judiciary, administration and the police. A new liberal economic system is also needed because economic disparity is increasing,” he added.

He said the book was the first of its kind with local analysis and that in the past, even ideas were imported into Pakistan.

“It shows that we are moving in the right direction. Our problem is a lack of good governance because of which there is a decline in the performance of successive governments. We have not yet adopted new methods of governance,” he said.

He observed that the book talked about the lack of visionary leadership. “We lost the Quaid-i-Azam too early and after him, we did not know where we have to take the country. Our leaders now discourage people from working and prefer working with bureaucrats who will say ‘yes’ to everything they say,” he said.

Quoting Ambassador Ali Sarwar Naqvi from the book, who had written that we were able to create a state, but not a nation, Mr Zaki said this was the reason for the separation of East Pakistan.

Analyst Dr Hassan Askari Rizvi, who reviewed the book, said it covers all aspects of security and also gives a historic overview.

“It covers everything from foreign policy to strategic depth, culture, nuclear policy, internal dimensions of security, civil military relations, national identity issues and more”, he explained.

Editor of the book, Dr Salma Malik said that as a teacher she knows there is little material for students to read that is written with a local perspective.

“Students usually have international or South Asian perspectives to read. This book will fill that gap,” she said.

CISS executive director Ambassador Ali Sarwar Naqvi said that though Pakistan has a strategic advantage in terms of location, the same has added to its challenges.

“The country has suffered because of the United States’ war in Afghanistan. Prominent writers have written chapters which come together to cover all the security issues of the country,” he said.

Published in Dawn, January 21st, 2016