A STATE IN DENIAL

A State in Denial by veteran
journalist B.G. Verghese explores a subject of immense global significance –
Pakistan, and where it is positioned in relation to India and the world.
After a brisk overview of the events that have come to define post-Independence
Pakistan – the battle for Kashmir; the integration of Karat and Hyderabad
into India; the creation of Bangladesh – Verghese, drawing from rare archival
material, approaches subjects that have long been contentious – the Indus
water treaty, Siachen and A.Q. Khan’s dangerous nuclear forays. Even while
analyzing Pakistan’s present-day plunge into internal dissent, self-made
jihadi extremism, provincial rivalry and military rule, Verghese offers a
gentle way out of the nation’s self-made dilemmas – by encouraging Pakistan
to become more than the Indian ‘other’, and urging it to move away from
fundamentalism and embrace the syncretic, Sufi-infused Islam it once knew.
B.G. Verghese’s last book is a powerful reminder that the core issue with
Pakistan is not Kashmir – rather, it is the lack of a clear identity, the
absence of a positive ideology, and the reluctance of the nation to fully
accept its history.