Daily Times

   Frontier Stations

Shakil Durrani

This book chronicles the author’s account of his public service of over forty years while serving at the highest levels of civil governments in different provinces of Pakistan, including the Tribal Areas, Gilgit-Baltistan, and Azad Kashmir. The author records his account from his own distinct perspective.

The book is insightful and remarkable in its authenticity and frankness. It is both a personal memoir and a reflection on Pakistan’s system of administration. Durrani has an insider’s view of many of the critical issues of governance and development which Pakistan faces. His long career covers a critical period of Pakistan’s recent history and he is a valuable witness to it. The book will be of interest not only to the reading public of Pakistan but to specialists, academics, diplomats, journalists and development practitioners.

Crossed Swords

Pakistan, its Army & the Wars Within

Second Edition

Shuja Nawaz

This is a profound and multi-layered analysis of the nature and role of the Pakistan Army in the country’s polity as well as its turbulent relationship with the United States. Using several hitherto unpublished materials, Shuja Nawaz lays bare key facts about Pakistan’s numerous wars with India and its many rounds of political musical chairs, as well as the Kargil conflict of 1999. This second edition comprises an updated preface which summarises the period of tumult and the significant transformation that both Pakistan and its army have undergone in the last decade.

Punjab and the War of Independence 1857-1858

From Collaboration to Resistance

Turabul Hassan Sargana

The central argument of this study is that resistance to the British in the Punjab during 1857-8 has been under-emphasised in historical works and the role of the common people or the masses in the Punjab, who resisted the Raj, has not been adequately highlighted in the historiography of the colonial era. Therefore, the present study is an attempt to bring the role of the Punjabi masses to the forefront, along with that of the elite, in order to present a complete picture of the role of the Punjab in War of Independence. This book also helps in understanding the role of the landed elite in contemporary politics of Pakistan, especially in the Punjab and NWFP (now Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, as it was a part of the Punjab in 1857) because the families who collaborated with the British during the war, are still playing an important role in the politics of Pakistan.

A Cry for Justice

Empirical Insights from Balochistan

Kaiser Bengali

Balochistan is clichéd as the largest province of Pakistan with the smallest population and with vast natural resources. It is abjectly under-developed, with virtually absent physical infrastructure and abysmally low social development indicators. Local discontent and anger over the state of affairs has repeatedly boiled over into insurgencies, with one under way currently. This book empirically documents five different aspects of under-development and deprivation in Balochistan: gas pricing, federal development expenditure, federal social protection, federal civil service, and structure of electoral representation. It is the first attempt to detail the facts of systematic economic exploitation, discrimination, and neglect that Balochistan has shouldered and continues to face-minus the fiction of imagined wrongs.

The Faltering State

Pakistan’s Internal Security Landscape

Tariq Khosa

The book addresses the various governance and internal security issues in Pakistan. The country’s internal security fault-lines revolve around the weakening of the state, rise of militancy and violence, terrorism, insurgency, poor governance, corruption, lawlessness, broken criminal justice system, disregard for human rights, control of military over civilian affairs, weak democratic institutions, lack of political will to reform institutions, and, above all, a crisis of leadership. The book is an outcome of the author’s experiences acquired through his 40-year career in law enforcement.