Daily Times

The editor of this much needed book, dedicated particularly for the universities/colleges compulsory course of Pakistan Studies, is a renowned academic and historian Professor Dr Sikandar Hayat, author of previous important books A Leadership Odyssey: Muslim Separatism and the Achievement of Separate State of Pakistan, The Charismatic Leader: Quaid-i-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah and the Creation of Pakistan and Aspects of the Pakistan Movement.

His sophisticated and nuanced understanding and interpretation of Indian freedom movement and Pakistan movement is known collectively as ‘the Hayat Hypothesis’.

The first chapter of the book titled ‘Genesis of Pakistan’ written by the editor, quite comprehensively narrates the origin and development of the Indian Muslims’ demand for a separate state as a logical consequence of the structure of state and political system introduced by the British Raj in South Asia. This structure had pushed Muslims, a considerable minority population in overall Hindu majority, of India into an identity crisis. This was certainly a poly crisis because it spanned into their social, cultural, economic and political spheres of life. In spite of all the efforts on the part of Muslim leadership particularly MA Jinnah, ‘Ambassador of Unity’ and after a long and arduous frustrating experience with the system as well as Indian National Congress, Jinnah was left with no choice but to demand in 1940, a separate state of Pakistan that he achieved on 14 August, 1947, in the backdrop of and necessitated urgently by the withdrawal of British empire from India.

The second chapter, written by Dr Farzand Masih, a renowned archaeologist, titled ‘Ancient Civilisations of Pakistan’ explains the two ancient civilisations, Indus Valley and Gandhara, that heavily contributed to the culture of areas present day constituting Pakistan. He traces the discovery of Indus Valley civilisation, its span and spread, regionalization, emergence and development of major urban centres such as Harappa, Mohenjodaro and Ganweriwala. He, further, brings into discussion Indus script, religion, burial rites and practices, town planning, architecture and sanitation. The Gandhara Civilization with its peculiar highlights of nomenclature, geographical extent and various rulers that came to rule this area including the Persians, Greeks, Mauryans, Indo-Greeks, Scythians, Indo-Parthians and Kushans, have been analysed and explained. These rulers left behind their cultural heritage, religion, philosophy, architecture as well as their languages that mingled with other local languages, beliefs, arts and crafts. Such was cross-fertilization that evolved into Gandhara Civilisation, re-discovered by the British in the nineteenth century through extensive excavations led by Sir John Martial and others.

The third chapter ‘Land and People of Pakistan’, written by Professor Kashif Shafique, is about Pakistan’s location, areas, borders, physical features, plains and deserts. He argues that it is a country of diversified relief with vast plains located in the Indus basin, rocky plateaus, beautiful valleys, snow covered peaks and glaciers. Pakistan possesses continental type of climate typified by extreme variations of temperature along contours of topography. Broadly located in the monsoon regions, the areas are arid except for the southern slopes of Himalayas. The demographic trajectories, its distribution and density, rural-urban divide, literacy and employment, gender issues, age structure, and migrations (internal and external) are explicated in detail in it.

The fourth chapter, authored by Dr. Muhammad Younis, titled ‘Politics and Government in Pakistan’ traces the political history of Pakistan with focus on political and constitutional developments, personalities, events and outcomes that have shaped the political system of the country. The dilemmas of consensus on constitution, especially related to provincial autonomy and place of Islam in the state along with Objectives Resolution, the first parliamentary constitution of 1956, the short lived presidential systems and traumatic martial laws, election cycles, secession of East Pakistan, the civilian restoration of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, and the eventual consensus on constitution of Pakistan 1973, are aptly analyzed. The author describes the overthrow of Bhutto by Zia’s martial law, emergence of Benazir Bhutto, and the decade of democracy 1988-99 with short lived alternate premierships. The fourth martial law of Musharraf till his forced ouster from power in 2008 along with his emphasis on ‘controlled democracy’ and ‘enlightened moderation’ as well as Pakistan’s joining of America led war on terrorism are part of the chapter. It further describes lawyers’ movement for restoration of democracy and rule of law, as well as electoral cycles bringing in governments of Pakistan Peoples’ Party, PML-N and PTI alternatively till the recent motion of no-confidence in April 2022.

The fifth chapter ‘Economic Development in Pakistan’ by Dr Uzma Hanif offers a comprehensive perspective on economic trajectories of Pakistan and shows how its economy has gone through various phases form laissez-faire to nationalizations to privatizations to public-private partnerships. She comprehensively analyses public concerns of social safety, health, education, literacy, and agriculture sector-the mainstay of Pakistan’s economy. Some other issues highlighted and explained are issues of water, road, electricity, farming techniques, and export of value added products, the CPEC, manufacturing and industry, transport and communications. In the end ‘Way Forward’ suggest path breaking suggestions to modernize agriculture, rebuild crumbling water infrastructure, cheap electricity with domestic sources, and opportunities of regional connectivity.

The sixth chapter ‘Society and Culture of Pakistan’ by Dr Arfa Sayeda Zehra explicates social profiles and multiple layers of culture including socio-cultural diversity in the country.

It highlights the national and provincial identities in the framework of shared social and cultural values in spite of heterogeneity. She argues that both society and culture are intertwined and dependent on each other through traditions, ethnicity, religion, values, language, arts, literature, music and cuisine.

The crux of her argument is that culture and society are not synonymous: the two may appear like one, being intertwined, but contribution to social life is made through cultural expressions, whether of values or norms.

She elaborates the landscape of Pakistan and shows that it constitutes tangible and intangible cultural space.

The seventh chapter ‘Foreign Policy of Pakistan’ written by a leading social scientist Dr Saeed Shafqat covers the period from 1947 to 2020 and proceeds on the premise that foreign policy of a country is given shape by three critical factors of geography, history and orientation of its political leadership and institutions. It brings out various phases of foreign policy of Pakistan i.e., 1947-71 period of united Pakistan with the country caught in super power rivalry; national rejuvenation 1971-77; alliances and Afghan Jehad, 1977-88; democratic dispensation, 1988-1999; global war on terror and globalization; and, global war on terrorism and uncertainty, 2008-2020. The writer contends that domestic factors impacted the foreign policy and geo-political realities made Pakistan strategically attractive for global and regional powers to pursue their own particular interest for better or worse for the country.

In the eighth chapter titled ‘Women and Minorities in Pakistan’, Dr. Sara Rizvi Jafree argues that minorities-ethnic, gender, cultural, religious, linguistic- are generally marginalized groups in a nation state structure. However, in Pakistan, women and minorities comprise a major bulk of population that need to be studied ad understood as unique and essential groups in this regards. Scholarship generally and textbooks particularly, have overlooked women and minorities. This chapter concentrates upon a number of minority groups of Pakistan i.e. women, ethnic minorities, religious minorities, refugees and internally displaced people, the transgender community, and people with special needs. It covers the progress as well as difficulties facing these minorities. Nonetheless, in the process, the historical legacy of the Indian subcontinent complicates matters certainly. The influence of poverty and governance failures contributed their part as well.

The ninth chapter ‘Languages and Literature in Pakistan’, by Dr. Nukhbah Taj Langah, critically appreciates the literature produced in English and describes the work of a number of prominent writers. She highlights the literature produced in Urdu, the national language of Pakistan, and dwells upon various literary genres in Urdu, such as: sher, ghazal, nazm, qasida, marsia, vasukhut, rekhti, masnavi, rubai, qita, musamat, dastaangoi, novel, afsana, drama, inshaiya, muqala, suvan-i-umri, khaka nigari, safarnama.

The chapter then moves on to the literature produced in regional languages such as Balochi, Punjabi, Pashto, Seraiki, and Sindhi. Author has discussed prominent writers, literary trends, genres, and placement of their literature in their specific linguistic context.

The book possesses essence of the discussions, analyses and findings much more than this limited space covers. It is being well received by the students and teachers of Pakistan Studies in universities and colleges throughout Pakistan and abroad. The kind of specialised writings it offers for the compulsory course of ‘Pakistan Studies’ is unique and unprecedented. On top of it, it is the expertise and lifelong academic experience of the editor of this anthology that makes it an intellectually rich collection.

The writer has a PhD in History from
Quaid-e-Azam University. He heads the History Department at Sargodha University. He has worked as a research fellow at Royal Holloway College, University of London. He can be reached at abrar.zahoor@hotmail.com and tweets at @AbrarZahoor1