Can Pakistan Survive

by Tariq Ali

Few Pakistani authors seem to have as thorough an understanding of the history of the Indian subcontinent and its impact as Tariq Ali does. His impartial tone rises above most propaganda that normally emerges out of the region. The book analyses the problems faced by Pakistan and its fragile democracy and thus provides any reader with a clear view of what ails this troubled nation.

Genres: Pakistan, History, Politics, Nonfiction

238 pages, Paperback

First published May 26, 1983

About the author

Tariq Ali (Punjabi, Urdu: طارق علی) is a British-Pakistani historian, novelist, filmmaker, political campaigner, and commentator. He is a member of the editorial committee of the New Left Review and Sin Permiso, and regularly contributes to The Guardian, CounterPunch, and the London Review of Books.

He is the author of several books, including Can Pakistan Survive? The Death of a State (1991) , Pirates Of The Caribbean: Axis Of Hope (2006), Conversations with Edward Said (2005), Bush in Babylon (2003), and Clash of Fundamentalisms: Crusades, Jihads and Modernity (2002), A Banker for All Seasons (2007) and the recently published The Duel (2008).

Reviews

[Tariq Mahmood · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tariq Ali has managed to produce a remarkable political history of Pakistan, from pre partition days to the early 1980's which is still pretty relevant. The Pakistani Establishment which constitutes a select club of capitalists, feudal, Civil servants and Army officers have kept John Lawrence moral policy argument which he made back in 1866.

'We have not been elected or placed in power by the people, but we are here through our moral superiority, by the force of circumstances, by the will of Providence. This alone constitutes our charter to govern India. In doing the best we can for the people, we are bound by our conscience and not theirs.'


Tariq Ali has argued that no mainstream political parties right from Congress to Muslim League were ever really interested in class revolution. They choose to instead work with the establishment guidelines instead. This submissive policy has resulted in maintaining the class infrastructure intact both in India and Pakistan. And this policy of avoiding chaos has resulted in the continuance of elitist class in Pakistan which has a vested interested in keeping most of the population ignorant. Becuase education could trigger an upheaval which the elites want to avoid at all costs.

Tariq Ali believes that the Islam based ideology of Pakistan will eventually lead to the breakdown of the country. People need prosperity more than religion and unfortunately, none of the current political parties is promising prosperity.

[Omama. · Rating 4 out of 5]

As the title implies, the central theme of the book deals with speculation. Tariq Ali has projected meaningful speculation supported by evidence drawn from the past. The major part of the book deals with the history of Pakistan even before the the time of it's inception till Zia-ul-Haq's coup de t'eat. The book is written from a Marxist's point of view. His arguments are brutal and unbiased. He analyses the problems faced by Pakistan and its fragile democracy and provides any reader with a clear view of the maladies and troubles this nation faces, at the hands of its rulers.

[Ali Hassan · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book elaborates some basic but serious mistakes Pakistan had been doing from its inception to the military period of Gen. Zia ul Haq. It points out lawlessness, socio-economic inequalities, political suppression, and civil-military ruses, that exploited Pakistan on all spheres, to a great length. The book seems boring a bit because of the writer's way of exploring history of Pakistan. It looks to a certain time while reading the book that the writer knows nothing but to malign the country. I mean in the span of almost thirty years he discovered only negative things and happenings in the country. That, at least, annoyed me because there were many good things also happened in that particular period. However, he also conceded in the preface of the book that he would write only those things that are little known to the people of the country or don't available in the books that promote ideology of the country.

[Brumaire Bodbyl-Mast · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ali’s history of Pakistan may have been revolutionary in its day, but given for one, the fact that Pakistan has survived largely in the same form for over forty years, and for two, there’s a serious lack of discussion of Pakistan’s relation with Islamist movements in neighboring Afghanistan, as well as deeper looks at the infamous Pakistani intelligence services make this somewhat lackluster. Ali’s Trotskyist leanings (something I was previously unaware of as well- not that there’s anything wrong with that necessarily, so long as it doesn’t hurt the historical analysis too much) show through often in this book, as frequent citations of him appear, and heavy usage of the word Stalinist, along with condemnations of both the USSR and China. The main structure of this book is on the different eras of Pakistani history up until ~1982 (which is when the book was originally published, and surprisingly, at least in my edition, there was no additional chapters to account for changes in Pakistan since) and more or less tends to account for a nondenominational “Marxist” history of Pakistan with a particular focus on the failures and successes of both the state and its internal discontents, especially oppressed ethnic and left wing movements (the latter of which Ali tends to find lacking, and the former Ali finds more successful (and often under greater pressure than the leftist counterparts who very frequently concede to the state with little fuss), though ultimately still congealed around infant bourgeois classes). Ali’s analysis of Pakistan’s geopolitical role, though, is without a doubt informative to many of his Western successors- as he points to Pakistan as almost an Islamic Israel, born out of the British tendency to partition, and serving the interest of Capitalist powers as a base of operations and stooge against regional rivals. The discussion of the military-bureaucratic system, or the infamous “Deep State,” as others call it, is also quite informative and reflects a common trend amongst Western allies, though again, sadly lacking depth.

[Prabhat sharma · Rating 3 out of 5]

Can Pakistan Survive- The death of a State- by Tariq Ali- The Book is well researched study on Pakistan from 1947 up to 1983.Can Pakistan Survive- The death of a State- by Tariq Ali- The Book is well researched study on Pakistan from 1947 up to 1983. In order to understand the contents of this book, I studied the following autobiographies of British Indian national leaders who were part of struggle for freedom from British empire during the period 1920-1980. 1-Bharat ka mukti Sangram by Ayodhya Singh, 2-My country my life- Lal krishna Advani, 3- Nice Guys finish second- B K Nehru, 4- Roses in December M C Chagla, 5- My life, law and other things- M C Setalwad, 6- Jinnah the creator of Pakistan by Hector Bolitho, 7- Zulfi my friend Piloo Modi, 8- An Indian Pilgrim - Subhas Chandra Bose, 9-Dr Zakir Hussain a biography by M Mujeeb, 10- Surrender of Dacca- birth of a nation by JFR Jacab, 11- The Betrayal of aEast Pakistan by AAK Niazi, 12- Autobiography Khushwant Singh, 13- Autobipgraphy- Kuldeep Naiyar, 14- My brother Fatima Jinnah, 15- Recollections and Reflections- autobipgraphy- Sir Chiman H Setalwad, 16- Netaji Collected Works- Sharat Chandra Bose, 17-The story of integration of States by V P Menon, 18- Reminisenses of Nehru age by M O Mathai, 19- Gandhi an autobiography M K Gandhi, 20- Autobiography Jawaharlal Nahru, 21- The course of my life by C D Deshmukh, 22- India from Curzon to Nehru and after by Durga Das, 20- Jinnah of Pakistan by Stanley Wolpert, 21- Indian Summer- the secret history of the end of an empire by Alex van Tunzelmann, 22-the memoirs of Aga khan- the world enough and time by Aga Khan. First chapter- Origins scribes the history of India under raids by Moughals on India, their downfall with time, incoming of Dutch, French, British as traders in India. This chapter describes history from Muslim point of view. While things are simple- to give a few examples- in 1905 Curzon partitioned Bengal because it was a large province including Bengal Bihar, Orissa, Assam as it was unmanageable, the muslims did not protest and after the hue and cry stopped, muslims prayed to the British Government to provide University education facility to Dacca. Second, Muslims are different , First chapter- history of India from the attck by Moughals on India, fall of moughal empire, coming of French, Dutch, British traders in India, 1857 war for independence, 1864 work of Sir Syed Ahmed Khan, formation of university at Aligarh up to 1947 has been described. Chapter 2- Post independence realities 1947- 1958, chapter 3- the gun and the hat- military bureaucratic dictatorship 1958-1969, chapter 4- the populist experiment- Bhutto in power 1970-1977, chapter 5- the crisis of legitimacy Martial law and the Islamic face- 1977? chapter 7 Between hammer and the anvil, geo politics and the super powers create question which needs to be answered by time. Referenes- Book page 217 Note 28 "Punjabi poem by Amrita Pritam "Waris shah main tainnu akhya" "His work transcends all barriers. It is not hindu, muslim or sikh. It is the most perfect image of the Punjab, an image such as even the sufi could not create anywhere else in India. " Second page 216 item 15 Unionist party- item 16 M Mujeeb. To conclude, I read a novel Once there was a nation called by Pakistan by Wg Cdr S K Sharma in which the author envisages that Pakistan and India has united, Indian laws are applicable to Pakistan, agricultural and urban ceiling is applicable. A united India can face internal and international challenges. Time will show some result.

[Alfie Hancox · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant Marxist history of Pakistan, worth reading for the chapters on the origins of Partition and its immediate aftermath alone. More than this, a classic example of historical materialist interpretation

[Asad Memon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Is it good?????

[Neelam · Rating 4 out of 5]

“We are today directly confronted with US imperialism.”