December 13, 2003 ☼ Foreign Affairs
tt Jones was the BBC’s Pakistan correspondent in Pakistan during its most recent ‘turning point’ - the Musharraf ascendency. After 9/11 much of the western world had no idea what Pakistan was all about, and this book is a British attempt to fill that gap. The book is organised thematically which makes it an easy read. Bennett Jones covers the period from 1947 to 2002 with a new preface detailing more recent events.
What I found most interesting is Bennett Jone’s sympathetic view of Pakistan and its people while fully exposing the corruption, duplicity and failings of its leaders. While military leaders are almost universally reviled Bennett Jones points out that early civilian leaders were at fault too. After reading this book, I’m not quite sure who did more damage - Zia ul Haq or Zulfikar Ali Bhutto?
If India builds the bomb, we will eat grass or leaves; even go hungry, but we will get one of our own - Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, 1965
By 2001 Pakistan was almost eating grass or going hungry, but it had the Bomb!
Published by Yale University Press where you can also download the first chapter free.
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