Desicritics Comments on With A Grain of Salt: Pakistan - Trapped, Surrounded, Quarantined?

Comment by kerty

Sat, 27 Sep 2008 19:06:05 EDT

Ruvy Pakistan will remain a failed state for a reason - its Jehadi ideology. There is no reason for Pakistan to fail otherwise if it gives up this ideology, which at present is easier said than done. Same would be true of all the break away provinces of Pakistan - if they remain wedded to Jahadi Islam, not even Allah can save them. But hopefully after Pakistan disintegrates as a failed state, the Jehadi ideology would be sufficiently crippled, and it might become easier to split apart or mash together its provinces to produce viable entities. Lot of wishful thinking, no doubt. Because lots of things have to fall into place before such a scenario can become viable. Iran and USA are wild cards and India will be mostly reacting to what they do.

Comment by Ruvy

Sat, 27 Sep 2008 18:34:13 EDT

Your solution, Kerty, would very possibly lead to just what you seek not to have. How long would an independent Sind or Baluchistan last? Bangladesh is a failed state now. India would have to move in just to protect its own security after a time. Otherwise Ivan would be sitting pretty just west of India.....

Comment by kerty

Wed, 24 Sep 2008 10:23:32 EDT

Ruvy Why would India want to inherit Pakistan's problems and compound its own? I do not think it would solve India's problems. When you have an incurable malaise, best thing to do is to isolate it from the rest and let it die its natural death. May be than, the India can think of taking on Pakistan by some sort of confederation. On the other hand, USA has geopolitical interests in the region and it makes sense for it to move into Pakistan, stabilize it and eventually try to swallow India too in order to surround China. India can not afford to have USA at its door step. So none of the options will be good for India and India has very little influence in how events will play out in Pakistan. May be best option is to let Pakistan disintegrate into several countries that can provide a buffer.

Comment by Tony Afam

Wed, 24 Sep 2008 09:12:55 EDT

All reference of Syed Jamaluddin's new book "DIVIDE PAKISTAN TO ELIMINATE TERRORISM" and the comment by Lere Ayanwola are false. Lere Ayanwola has no interest in Pakinstan's politic and would not make a comment in support of Syed Jamaluddin book or anything about him, this is a disclaimer. We know Syed Jamaluddin as a fraud in Nigeria and should not be taken seriouly.

Comment by

Tue, 2 Sep 2008 17:05:36 EDT

Comment by duasorb

Mon, 1 Sep 2008 18:49:02 EDT

wow :) its very unconventional point of view. Nice post. realy gj thx :-)

Comment by Ruvy

Tue, 19 Aug 2008 06:53:58 EDT

I also stumbled on this dead thread. Disintegrating Pakistan? What an interesting thought! So, then Pakistan can be re-integrated with India. There is far more uniting these two nations than dividing them. Reintegrating Pakistan into India as a number of states would solve quite a number of problems (like Kashmir), and would challenge those Indians who talk of a secular, civil society to actually have one. Someone with far more understanding of the region should write an article on this idea....

Comment by ushnishas

Mon, 26 May 2008 00:25:52 EDT

Look what happened to Benazir Bhutto. She put her trust in Musharraf's promises. And bingo!

Comment by ushnishas

Mon, 26 May 2008 00:24:57 EDT

Look what happened to Benazir Bhutto. She put her trust in Musharraf's promises. And bingo!

Comment by ushnishas

Mon, 26 May 2008 00:24:12 EDT

Look what happened to Benazir Bhutto. She put her trust in Musharraf's promises.

Comment by ushnishas

Mon, 26 May 2008 00:21:57 EDT

I agree with Ledzius! We can never tell, it could be the best thing. Keep trouble out.

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Sun, 25 May 2008 11:42:11 EDT

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Sat, 24 May 2008 19:02:48 EDT

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Sat, 24 May 2008 15:53:16 EDT

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Comment by Ledzius

Sun, 14 Oct 2007 10:43:39 EDT

Chanced upon this dead thread, but if Iran has the sense to build a wall, what are we doing running trains to Pak? High time we stopped these and spend the money on building a wall as well.

Comment by Lere Ayanwola

Tue, 10 Apr 2007 21:53:09 EDT

The need for us today is to understand the reality of Pakistan. I want to refer all of us to Syed Jamaluddin's new book "DIVIDE PAKISTAN TO ELIMINATE TERRORISM" which says that a country which has a terrorist-in-uniform being the President of this country, how can Pakistan be taken as a serious nation. The world now needs to be reshaped with only those forces to exist which believe in humanity and not those who intend to destroy humanity. The Serbians are now paying price of their inhuman behaviours. Kosovo shall be independent soon and therefore Pakistan must also be disintegrated.

Comment by NAMAT KHAN

Tue, 10 Apr 2007 21:49:06 EDT

In my opinion, the author should first read the new book titled "DIVIDE PAKISTAN TO ELIMINATE TERRORISM" which clearly proves that Pakistan's justification as a country has been eliminated due to Pakistan's involvement in terrorist activities. The author of this new book has asked the UN to intervene and disintegrate Pakistan into 6 pieces. The idea is neither bad nor impossible. But the real role rests with India.

Comment by bd

Tue, 13 Mar 2007 06:38:13 EDT

well, i hope i didnt go OTT! lol

Comment by temporal

Tue, 13 Mar 2007 06:07:58 EDT

beady: to quote mark twain without exagerrating...... ;)

Comment by bd

Mon, 12 Mar 2007 12:09:58 EDT

also see this http://www.thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=45528

Comment by bd

Mon, 12 Mar 2007 12:09:12 EDT

chandra absolutely. In an analysis like this, it is very difficult to be categorical. And as you have shown, FDI IS happening. My point was slightly different on the FDI side, its risky according to the FDI magazine. I cant comment on the bank story as I work for one of them! :) I wrote a big post somewhere sometime about Gwadar port. The gist of the post was that a port by itself is useless. It is but a trans-shipment point. Now look at the map. Just WHAT is going to be exported out of that port and what is going to be imported out of that port that Karachi or Chaman in Iran cannot do better, cheaper and more efficiently? if you look at that, then you will see that the gwadar figures are to be looked at with a very jaundiced eye. And yes, chacha USA is pumping in money, it has to keep the army sweet! :)

Comment by Chandra

Mon, 12 Mar 2007 11:58:50 EDT

BD Interesting analysis. While your overall analysis is probably in the right direction. Here are some arguments against the trend On banks , Pakistan has seen some investments in Bank privatisation during the last one year (Stanchart and ABN) and expect more during the next 6 months. http://www.thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=45638 On FDI, things are quite good actually. The Pakistan times reports about 3 Billion of FDI in the first 7 months of the year/ up by 70% http://www.pakistantimes.net/2007/03/10/business1.htm The Gwadar port is expected to be launched this month and is managed being none other than the Port of singapore. The forecast is for about 4-5 billion revenues in the next 3-4 years http://www.app.com.pk/en/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=3950&Itemid=2 I see each of these as confidence by investors more than anything else. Of course there are many aspects that support your arguments---- I heard recently was that the US pumps in about a billion dollars a year to buy out Mushy and his cronies (Ayaz Amir, dawn). The other thing that we all know is a recent attempt (stupid) by Pakistan to position itself as a peace maker. The Pakistanis called for a middle east summit (excluding Syria and Iran). Nobody knows what came out of that but the Iranians were furious and called the Pakistani Ambassador in Teheran for discussions (?). One of the big gossips going around is that the Pakistanis are likely to screw up the IPI pipeline due to conflict with Iran rather than due to the conflict with India. So much for brotherly love. cheers