Is Pakistan a Failed State

[brett]

Many al Qaeda members and Taliban fled to Pakistan's lawless ethnic Pashtun tribal belt

http://www.*******.com/article/newsOne/idUSTRE4AO42220081125

Pakistan could hardly be described as the cradle of Democracy. Recent history has produced Junta governments, high profile assassinations, the export of nuclear weapons technology, and a worldwide resurgence of interest in Madrasas. If new borders were drawn on the map to reflect the Pashtun reality, it would be possible to conclude that the original experiment to separate the Muslim population out of India, and create a new sovereign state in 1947, has failed.

[Russian_dude]

Yes, Pakistan needs to be broken up into Pushtinistan, Baluchistan and the rest needs to join India since they are ONLY separated by religion and not ethnicity.

[Royal]

If new borders were drawn on the map to reflect the Pashtun reality, it would be possible to conclude that the original experiment to separate the Muslim population out of India, and create a new sovereign state in 1947, has failed.

The Durand line goes back to 1893. The thinking behind it way before that. Any Pashtunistan would also involve dismembering Afghanistan - can't see that going well.

Furthermore, India retains 150 million or so Muslims (give or take - the figure is from Wiki) up a bit from partition I'll grant you, but doesn't really fit with your assertion that the creation of Pakistan was "the original experiment to separate the Muslim population out of India"....

On the other hand, is Pakistan a failed state? Yes.

[Ghorkhali]

i can't stop myself from commenting though anyways i think Pakistan is a mistake which can't be rectified ! and US and China's support to Pakistan has really turned situation worse for citizens of both India and Pakistan .

[kamaz]

I dont know if its a failed state, but its on life support and held only by a corrupt army and dictatorship. Democracy there is a sad joke, and the extremism is growing each year. The obsession with Kashmir, proliferation with nukes, funding and raising taliban in A-stan, rampant graft and corruption, unenforceable frontier areas where federal law is non existent.

its a 'country' thats held together by strings.

India on the other hand is creating new technology, sending probes into space, building super highways, modernizing their military, training their people for the future, not into suicide bombers.


btw, do you guys know why its called Pakistan? its a collection of short hand for Punjab, Afghani, Kashmir, Sindh, Baluchistan. 'pure'-stan.

[meltdown]

My understanding is that Pakistan literally means Pure country (or as you put it pure stan) in Urdu, while Pakstan in the sense you describe is a much newer, 20th century word play.

[eugenlitwin]

Yes, Pakistan needs to be broken up into Pushtinistan, Baluchistan and the rest needs to join India since they are ONLY separated by religion and not ethnicity.

yes, and A-stan 2

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/42/Pakistan_ethnic_1973.jpg

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/00/Map_of_Ethnic_Groups_%28in_Districts%29_in_Afghanistan.jpg

[kamaz]

My understanding is that Pakistan literally means Pure country (or as you put it pure stan) in Urdu, while Pakstan in the sense you describe is a much newer, 20th century word play.

the concept of Pakistan didnt exist until 1947, or maybe a few years earlier in the mind of Ali Jinnah.

it used to be India for thousands of years.

[meltdown]

the concept of Pakistan didnt exist until 1947, or maybe a few years earlier in the mind of Ali Jinnah.

it used to be India for thousands of years.

Surely, there is no quarrel there, I just thought the word would have been in use earlier.

[Doublethinker]

Yes, Pakistan needs to be broken up into Pushtinistan, Baluchistan and the rest needs to join India since they are ONLY separated by religion and not ethnicity.

lol. India is the most multiethnic country in the world.

[Lau]

Is Pakistan a Failed State


Short answer: Yes.

Long answer: Yes, absolutely!

[KB]

Heard an interview on NPR (US public radio) last night with Ahmed Rashid, a Pakistani author and observer of current events. He's flogging a new book "Descent into Chaos: The United States and the Failure of Nation Building in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Central Asia". During the interview he stated that a full 1/3 of Pak territory is no longer under control of government authority, but Islamic fundamentalists.

[Britboy]

Hmm, if Pakistan is a failed state, then there should be a newsflash: 'US regards failed state as 'Major Non-NATO Ally'!

[eugenlitwin]

the concept of Pakistan didnt exist until 1947, or maybe a few years earlier in the mind of Ali Jinnah.

it used to be India for thousands of years.

im´t so sure here
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mughal_Empire

[ColinP]

Pakistan could work if they wern't so paranoid about everyone. Give the NWF, Tribal areas 5 years to get their act together and agree to the same laws as everyone else or face explusion from the rest of Pakistan, a smaller more stable Pakistan is better than the trainwreck of a nation they have now. They can push for a settlement on Kashmir and improve trade with India. Encourage a pipeline from Iran to India/China running through south Pakistan.

[Ghorkhali]

the concept of Pakistan didnt exist until 1947, or maybe a few years earlier in the mind of Ali Jinnah.

it used to be India for thousands of years.

The name had been developed by a group of students at Cambridge University who issued a pamphlet in 1933 called Now or Never. They came up with the term "Pakistan" as "composed of letters taken from the names of our homelands: that is, Punjab, Afghania [North-West Frontier Province], Kashmir, Iran, Sindh, Tukharistan, Afghanistan, and Balochistan. It means the land of the Paks, the spiritually pure and clean." Although the suffix "stan" means country in Hindi and Persian, the students were able to fit the names of homelands to create an appropriate country name.

[Ghelp]

Yes Paksitan is a failed state.It scares me knowing that this failed state has nuclear weaponry that could fall into the wrong hands.Before Pakistan implodes I hope the world powers have a game plan that will be put into effect to destroy or capture these weapons before they go into the wrong hands.

[Ghorkhali]

here is small evidence how Pakistan is now trying to fail India .

http://in.youtube.com/watch?v=7vDyP3Bf1E4#t=1m59s