Presentation of the book “Image and Reality of Changing Pakistan” by the author Dr. Rajkumar Singh.
All things apart, continuous change is an essential nature of both individual as well as of society and when we apply this dictum in case of Pakistan, we found a lot of changes-favourable or unfavourable in the history of Pakistan as a nation since its making on 14 th August 1947, the day Indian subcontinent was divided alike two brothers of a single mother, known as India and Pakistan.
Although both these countries have registered a substantial growth in their own ways, the developments and happenings of Pakistan till date, attracted more international media as an icon of being the first Muslim country in many respects. At the heart of common interest in the affairs of Pakistan was its many unhealthy developments in the years of military as well as democratic rulers of the nation who never cared for the mass of the people as they failed to visualise the generational change taking place within the country with fast speed in urban areas followed by rural people of the country.
With the change of time and coming of globalisation and technological developments taking place worldwide the book titled, ‘Image and Reality of Changing Pakistan’, narrates everything about transforming Pakistan with hopes and despairs of new generation, to have a good name for their country in the comity of nations along with essential needs and comforts of life. The period of more than seven decades has become a history for judging the performance of the rulers of the time, both military and democratic.
The book published in early 2022 by the Ankit Publications, New Delhi, having ISBN-978-81-950132-0-3, containing 366 pages,, is a good account of a long span of time from Liaquat Ali Khan to Imran Khan, without malice to anyone, but always remaining in the interest of the common people, the undisputed subject of the contemporary global political system.
About Chapters
Beginning with ‘Introduction’ the book contains a very interesting and fact-finding jacket design which spells the entire chronology of Pakistan’s development in an upward way with early to latest in between the phase of decisive wars between the two- 1965, 1971 and 1999. The upper portion of this design showed how the current generation of the country is almost ready to take-off in a multidimensional way as the new youngsters of other neighbouring/big power nations of the world.
The entire content of chapter two is devoted to the constitutional developments in the country along with the theme of ‘Objective Resolution’, which was carried forward in constitutions of 1956, 1962, and 1973 respectively. In the period, the unprecedented political crises, security threats failures of domestic and foreign policies had largely shielded country’s fate in the hands of bureaucratic/military elites who developed a symbiotic relationship along with feudal lords who readily accepted their offer and co-operated throughout to push the country in the direction and in a way no one ever imagined. As a result of the mishandling of country’s constitution since the beginning, several dissident groups emerged in many provinces of Pakistan-Punjab, Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan and even today many of them are posing a threat for the national unity and integrity, in addition to partition of the country in 1971 when its eastern part separated itself to become a nation called Bangladesh.
The book describes by chapters all the military rulers since the days of Ayub Khan, Yahya Khan, Zia-ul-Haq and Pervez Musharraf, who ruled for about half of its independent history. These military rulers not only abused political power for their own benefit, but also showed Pakistani society a difficult road ahead in the years to come, making it a failed state both politically and economically.
Current Challenges of Pakistan
According to this book, the country Pakistan is currently running in the most difficult time of its history and facing challenges internally as well on foreign policy counts, especially due to its debt burden and rising scarcity of essential commodities round the year. People are upset and nervous as to how and when they will overcome the prevailing situation.
In fact, the long misrule in the country has totally changed the national perception of Pakistan and let the nation open for third party use ignoring its own national interests. It remained an ardent supporter of the United States of America and the superpower of the time has used it extensively in serving its purposes regionally and globally. The people of Pakistan and its rulers never cared for their strength, economically or otherwise and blindly helped US serve its purpose in the region since the days USSR intervened in Afghanistan in the last week of December 1979.
The period of more than seven decades has become a history for judging the performance of the rulers of the time, both military and democratic.
The last and seventh chapter of the book was devoted to the country’s democratic decadence in the post-1971 phase, and a chronological analysis was presented from the time of Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto to Imran Ahmed Khan Niazi, who very recently was ousted by his successor, Shehbaz Sharif, without any respite for the common people of the country until today. Other minor parts of the book, such as the preface, abbreviation, glossary, bibliography, and final index, also invite one to take time and read the volume at least once to better understand this changing nation.
Dr. Rajkumar Singh, the author of the book, ‘Image and Reality of Changing Pakistan’, is presently Professor Department of Political Science and Dean Students Welfare (DSW) at B.N. Mandal University, Madhepura (Bihar), India. He has published 23 books as well as 900 articles in national and international journals and newspapers in 25 foreign countries.