The Lal Masjid episode in the first week of July this year in Islamabad is the culmination of the policies pursued by the establishment in Pakistan during the last several decades and they are the subject of the book under review. Like most writers on the history of the ongoing political and social crisis and the rise of extremism in Pakistan Zahid Hussain starts from 9/11 and the decision of General Musharraf to take a u-turn in his support to the Taliban. The seeds of the present crisis were sown in the early days of Pakistan. The Muslim League politicians in the absence of a socio-political programme of nation building began to use Islam for national integration and to resolve regional demands.
October 2007, volume 31, No 10