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Review Essay 
Can Pakistan Work?
 A Country in Search of Itself 
Pervez Hoodbhoy
The Idea of Pakistan.
by stephen philipcohen.
 Washington: BrookingsInstitution Press, 2004, 367 pp. $32.95. When he founded Pakistan in 1947,Muhammad Ali Jinnah—an impeccably dressed Westernized Muslim withVictorian manners and a secular outlook—promised the subcontinent’s Muslims thatthey would finally be able to fulfill theircultural and civilizational destiny. Althoughthe new nation arose from a bloodbathof ethnic cleansing and sectarian violence,and its fundamental premise was thatHindus and Muslims could never livetogether, its early years nevertheless heldsome promise of a liberal, relatively secularpolity. But with time, Jinnah’s Pakistanhas grown weaker, more authoritarian,and increasingly theocratic. Now set tobecome the world’s fourth most populousnation, it is all of several things: a clientstate of the United States yet deeply resent-ful of it; a breeding ground for jihad andal Qaeda as well as a key U.S. ally in thefight against international terrorism; aneconomy and society run for the benefit of Pakistan’s warrior class, yet with a relatively free and feisty press; a country whereeducation and science refuse to flourishbut which is nevertheless a declared nuclearpower; and an inward-looking society thatis manifestly intolerant of minorities butthat has never seen anything like the state-organized pogroms of India, Afghanistan,Iran, or China.In
The Idea of Pakistan
, Stephen PhilipCohen sets out to understand this enigmaof modern history. Cohen is the UnitedStates’ leading analyst of South Asia, andthis authoritative work of broad scopeand meticulous research will surely becomerequired reading on Pakistan. It also pro- vides a view from the heart of the American
Pervez Hoodbhoy
is a nuclear physicist at Quaid-e-Azam University in Islamabad.
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empire, an analysis of how Washingtoncan best advance its interests in South Asia.Cohen’s facts are indisputable, his logiccold and clear, and his omissions deliberateand meaningful.Ominous declarations of imminentchaos in Pakistan abound in the UnitedStates. Cohen aims both to raise warningsand to soothe fears. Although he acknowl-edges that profound problems plague boththe idea and the reality of Pakistan, hedistances himself from apocalyptic “failedstate” scenarios. Catastrophic failure of this nuclear-armed state is surely a possi-bility. But Pakistan’s fate will ultimately depend on whether its leaders can findan answer to the fundamental questionthat has plagued their fellow citizens formore than half a century: “How can wemake the idea of Pakistan actually work?”
 AN ARMY WITH A COUNTRY
According to a popular but rather humor-less Pakistani joke, “all countries havearmies, but here, an army has a country.”Indeed, even when civilian governments
peter marlow /magnum photos
 An effigy of Pervez Musharraf at a protest in Rawalpindi,Pakistan, September 2001
 
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 No.
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Pervez Hoodbhoy
have nominally been in charge in Pakistan,there has never been much doubt about who actually makes decisions there. Inaddition to holding political power, thePakistani army controls vast commercialand industrial interests and owns massiverural and urban properties. As Cohenremarks, “regardless of what may be de-sirable, the army will continue to set thelimits on what is possible in Pakistan.”General Pervez Musharraf, the coun-try’s current chief executive, seized powerin a bloodless coup in 1999, and there havesince been several attempts on his life.After each, the media has warned of anuclear state careening out of control, with radical Islamists fighting to get intothe driver’s seat. Cohen rightly dismissesthis view as alarmist. If the general werekilled, the army establishment wouldquickly replace Musharraf with anothersenior o⁄cer, and various measures—theinstallation of former Citibank executiveShaukat Aziz as prime minister, mostnotably—have recently been undertakento protect against a leadership crisis.Cohen also breaks with Musharraf’sstaunchest international backers, who“see him as a wise and modern leader, asecular man who is not afraid to supportthe West or to oªer peace to India, anda man who can hold back the onrush of demagogues and Islamic extremists.”Cohen notes that “no serious Pakistanianalyst sees Musharraf in these terms. ...If he resembles any past Pakistani leader,it is General Yahya Khan—also a well-intentioned general who did the UnitedStates a great favor.” The question of why the warrior class was never tamed by civilian rule pointsback to the founding of the Pakistanistate. As the respected Pakistani scholarEqbal Ahmad has emphasized, the civil-ian system of power was never regardedby Pakistan’s citizens as just, appropriate,or authoritative. And despite Jinnah’sdeclarations, the idea of Pakistan wasunclear from the start. Lacking any clearbasis for legitimacy or direction, the statequickly aligned with the powerful landedclass: the army leadership and the economicelite joined forces to claim authority in anation without definition or cohesion.In subsequent years, the governmentmaintained the feudal structure of society and entered into a manifestly exploitativerelationship with Pakistan’s poor eastern wing (which became Bangladesh in1971 after a short but bloody war). Evennow, bonded labor is common, and many peasants live in conditions close to slavery.Politicians, with the exception of themercurial demagogue Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto,have made no attempt at reform, ignoringthe hearts and minds of the masses infavor of cultivating elite favor and pursuingquick financial gain. The result has been ideologicalconfusion, civilian helplessness, and anenvironment eminently hospitable toputsches. Indeed, no elected governmenthas completed its term in Pakistan’s 57-year history. Pakistani generals expresscontempt for the civilian order and stead-fastly hold that “what is good for thearmy is good for Pakistan,” and Pakistanisociety is thoroughly militarized. Bumperstickers read, “The Finest Men Join thePakistan Army”; tanks parade on thestreets of Islamabad while jet aircraftscreech overhead; discarded naval guns,artillery pieces, and fighter aircraft adornpublic plazas. It is even a criminal oªenseto “criticize the armed forces of Pakistanor to bring them into disaªection.”
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