On the Edge of an Abyss?
Pinak Ranjan Chakravarty
APOCALYPSE PAKISTAN by Francesco Marino and Beniamino Natale Niyogi Books, New Delhi, 2014, 180 pp., 395
February 2014, volume 38, No 2

Pakistan’s imminent failure as a nation state has spawned many books. Pakistan’s principal attraction for writers and experts is the country’s central role in sustaining and promoting regional and international terrorism. Numerous terrorist incidents in recent times, anywhere in the world, seem to have a Pakistani connection or signature. This has engendered a morbid fascination to examine the anatomy of this nation that was born as a homeland for Muslims in the Indian subcontinent and is today the epicentre of terrorism with nuclear weapons capability. A nation that has adopted terrorism as a tool of state policy combined with nuclear weapons is certainly an international headache. From the dawn of cautious optimism at its birth, Pakistan has travelled a long 66 years to its current perilous position in a twilight zone, wracked by domestic terrorism, plagued by a power crisis and an economy in free fall. Pakistan seems poised on the edge of an abyss. It is a mystery that Pakistan teeters on the edge but does not fall over. This is what attracts journalists—breaking news, mostly bad which the media finds exciting.

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