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Although it achieved independence in 1947, Pakistan still has not succeeded in integrating its diverse peoples into a nation-as its short yet turbulent history vividly demonstrates. The nation's search for stability is traced in this revised and updated introduction to Pakistan's political, economic, and social development. New chapters detail political developments since 1991, including the elections of 1993 and 1996. Economic changes, including the financial crisis that led to the fall of Benazir Bhutto's government in 1996, are given particular attention. Also included is an extensive analysis of the nuclear arms race between India and Pakistan, an issue of global concern. ... Read more

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Relevant title on Pakistan Army operations
The conflict was short and limited, packed with intense activity, major movement, heavy fighting and crucial decisions.

The initiative rested with Pakistan to commence hostilities, which they did with a mix of irregular and regular troops and tactics. This is a story of anticipation, of impending actions, ofvirtual equality of forces engaged in a savage battle of attrition in which no quarters were given or asked.

The author, GOC-in-C Western Command during those fateful days provided an essential element of higher command, an unflappable presence under whose command the Army imposed unacceptable levels of losses on the enemy, first toning down their rhetoric, then their confidence, and lastly their ability to sustain very high levels of material losses.

There is very little material or records to draw upon for our military studies of warfare in and around the Indian subcontinent. War Despatches narrates for the first time the inside story through original despatches filed by the Army Commander from the war zone.

To maintain the authenticity of the Despatches, the military style of writing has been followed in the text as far as possible. ... Read more

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REVIEW OF CRITICAL EVENTS, MILITARY AND POLITICAL, 1947-8. ... Read more

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This is a fresh account, from a people's perspective, of the political struggles in East Pakistan that culminated in the emergence of an independent Bangladesh. The study draws upon original documents as well as the personal experience of the author, who was directly involved in these struggles. ... Read more

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Very informative
A well written book on a very important episode of Bangladesh. With appropriate reference, this book elaborates the events and analyzes the events carefully. Of course one may argue that the author uses leftist methods or portrays the events in leftist observations. However you cannot totally deduct the presence of the historian himself from the equation which he is laying out. One problem - the author uses long sentences, reminiscent of the old Indian English writing style, and the reader grapples with the meaning at the end of the long sentence. Thats irritating. ... Read more

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Allama Mashriqi, one of the founding fathers of Pakistan, was one of the greatest scholars and leaders of the 20th century. "Pakistan’s Freedom & Allama Mashriqi" is a timeline of events surrounding this giant among men and his Khaksar Tehrik (also known as the Khaksar Movement).

Mashriqi, a genius, broke records at the Cambridge University (U.K.) and emerged as a world-renowned mathematician and scholar. It is believed that his academic records at the Cambridge University are yet to be broken. He held the position of Under Secretary (Education Dept.) in British India. Prior to partition, the British offered him title of Knighthood and Ambassadorship; he declined both offers. Mashriqi was also among great writers, and his monumental work is "Tazkirah" (nominated for Nobel Prize), which presents a scientific view of the Holy Quran. After resigning from the government service, Mashriqi founded the Khaksar Tehrik in 1930. This Movement created history and led to the freedom of the Indian subcontinent and the emergence of Pakistan and India.

"Pakistan’s Freedom & Allama Mashriqi" is the result of almost a decade of exhaustive research by Mr. Nasim Yousaf ( grandson of Allama Mashriqi ). It is one of the most important documents in Indo-Pak history that has ever been produced on the Khaksar Movement. This work will go a long way in unveiling many hidden facts surrounding independence, as Pakistan and India’s history remains incomplete and imperfect without discussing the Khaksar Movement’s role toward freedom.

This chronology goes far beyond merely listing dates of events; it includes important correspondence, resolutions, press statements, official communiqués, photos, and much more. This work allows the reader to get an undistorted and factual understanding of Mashriqi and the Khaksars’ unparalleled resistance and suffering that mobilized the nation for freedom. "Pakistan’s Freedom & Allama Mashriqi" is an eye-opener and an immense source of information for scholarly studies, historians, professors, students, film-makers, journalists, and others interested in Indo-Pak history.

The editor has used credible sources, including non-Khaksar materials. In addition, his personal knowledge provides great insight into the life of Mashriqi and his Movement. Based on this information, Mr. Yousaf has provided comments wherever needed. ... Read more

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This volume provides an insider's account of some of the most important events in Pakistan's history. The author has carefully studied the historic events and developments, and the parts played by the key persons, many of whom were personally known to him. This book is intended for historians, students of Pakistan affairs, and researchers concentrating on th ethnic politics and the rise of Mohajir particularism in Sindh. ... Read more

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Based on original sources, this book is an objective analysis of the events leading to the Pakistan Resolution. Malik provides a number of new explanations and startling insights. ... Read more

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Today the northern area of Pakistan is characterized by confrontation and conflict between an archaic mentality and an advancing industrialization and market economy. Perhaps the impact of modernity can be absorbed without destroying traditional values. Local communities could, instead of being ignored or oppressed, become protagonists of controlled development.This volume addresses these issues through the description of a series of interventions of territorial planning, environmental protection, recovery of historic buildings and traditional villages and the improvement of living conditions. These projects were carried out over the last twelve years by the Aga Khan Trust for Culture (AKTC) through its Historic Cities Support Programme (HCSP). ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Great Background info but conclusions not well thougt out
The book is a great introduction for anybody who just wants to know a little bit more about the region and why things are the way they are.Woolpert throws a lot of relevant (and irrelevant) historical data at the reader.However, the presentation is not always fluid.He has a tendency to jump around from event to event.He also keeps coming back to the same events at different points in the book, making it a bit jarring.

Taking all the information he has provided, most sane minded strategic thinkers would reach conclusions far removed from the authors.His viewpoint is simply idealistic.Realpolitik demands that we look at the situation from a more pragmatic perspective.What is "right" is not always "good".

The other thing is that with time (and especially recent events) this book is begging for a rewrite.A lot of his conclusions are already flat out wrong.Many others seem misguided in view of recent events.

There are other better books on the subject ("the great game") that stand the tests of time and pragmatism better than this one.If you read it because your library does not have any of the others, fine.Don't go out and buy it. ... Read more

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This bibliography contains resources related to the founding of Pakistan, collected from the vantage point of the fiftieth anniversary of partition, August, 1997. The call for the creation of Pakistan began in the 1940s--some Indian Muslims were nervous about living in a state in which the overwhelming political control would be in the hands of the Hindu majority. In 1947 India was partitioned and the state of Pakistan was created. What ensued was terrible ethnic violence and cultural strain as Hindus and Muslims clashed. Those conflicts still inform the relations between the two countries, as each eyes the other warily over important and sometimes deadly issues. This fact was dramatically highlighted by the tension over India's recent testing of fissible material and Pakistan's own ballistic missile tests. The histories of the formation of Pakistan that are collected in this book are numerous in their perspectives. They include the views of imperial historians, world systems theorists, world historians, Marxists, British historians, and subalternists. In addition there are constitutional historians, historians of the much maligned "Cambridge school," historians of communalism, as well as biographers and novelists. The wide range of this important historical collection makes it essential to scholars and students of Asian history. It provides a wealth of detailed information about one of the most ambitious and successful colonial independence movements in the world, and broaches the difficult questions surrounding religion and ethnicity, and their intersection with the state. ... Read more

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On 14 August 1947, a decisive step in the retreat of British imperialism occurred: the new nation of Pakistan was created out of the body of India, and Britain's century-long domination over the Indian sub-continent ended. This book examines the trauma and subsequent chequered history of political development, and leads the author to ask: was it inevitable? This is a gift edition published for the 50th anniversary of the founding of Pakistan. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

A British Perspective of Partition of India
The upside is that it is a good book for someone trying to find a non-Indian, non-Pakistani version of the reasons and account of partition. The downside is that it is somewhat pro-British, which considering the factthat the author was a senior British official during the Raj, shouldn't besurprising. On the whole a good book for someone trying to find out moreabout partition. However, my choice for the best book in this categorywould still be "Freedom at Midnight".

PARTITION
THE BOOK EXPLAINS THE PARTITION IN GREAT DETAIL. MANY OF THE ANSWERS ABOUT THE GREATEST MIGRATION IN HUMAN HISTORY CAN BE FOUND IN THIS BOOK. A TRUE ACCOUNT OF THOSE LAST DAYS OF THE BRITISH RAJ. AN IMPARTIAL SIDE OF ANIMPORTANT EVENT OF THIS CENTURY. ... Read more

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Pakistan has undergone a number of significant changes in the past two years, including a complete change in government. Contributors to this up-to-the-minute volume provide insight into both Pakistan's optimistic prospects and its threatening problems as they have unfolded over the past two years. These illuminating essays are enhanced by a detailed chronology of the events of 1996-1997. ... Read more

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This volume, the third in the trilogy on the Pathway to India's Partition, shows the key role played by Jinnah in the last phase of the journey to that goal. It also proves the hollowness of the so-called revisionist thesis, that although claiming to work for the creation of Pakistan, Jinnah actually did not believe in that demand and was really working for a compromise which might succeed in bringing about a strong central government for a united India and that this had indeed been the real objective of the Pakistan resolution of 1940-an absurd proposition. ... Read more

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The March to Pakistan - Pathway to partition vol III
I didn`t know that Unknown Bidding is the same that a shot in the dark. I was searching the title The March to Pakistan - Pathway to Partition vol III and then I found this sale. I made the order and I received the vol I. I am disappointed with the seller. I'm not intended to buy with the seller again.
Claudio ... Read more

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Emerging from the partition of India in 1947, Pakistan was a product of the first and perhaps the most successful of those twentieth-century movements which sought to bring about an Islamic transformation of the post-colonial state. But the evolution of Islam's role in the Pakistan movement has long been debated. This book examines the problem through a detailed study of Muslim politics in the Punjab--Pakistan's largest and most important province--in the decades leading up to India's partition. Gilmartin argues that an understanding of Muslim politics in this period depends on an understanding of the close interaction between the ideology and structure of the British colonial empire on the one hand, and the structure of Islamic organization and ideas on the other.
The British imperial state rejected religion as a foundation for its central authority, yet its structure encouraged the development of forms of rural Islam adapted to local organization and to the hierarchical and mediatory ideology of the imperial state. At the same time, alien colonial domination encouraged the growth of "communalism" and eventually of Muslim "nationalism," particularly in Punjab's cities--thus posing new ideological challenges to the British Raj.
The tensions inherent in the structure and ideology of colonial organization thus provide the backdrop for the study. Gilmartin's extensive use of private papers, biographies, and autobiographies of prominent as well as less prominent political leaders helps give this study a balanced viewpoint. He also draws on a range of popular and private Urdu materials that lend the book an authentic voice.
This study will be welcomed by students of colonial empire and by those interested in Islam's role in the modern world. ... Read more

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role of punjab in making of pakistan
i want to review the articles "role of pnjab in making of pakistan" in this book. ... Read more

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An introduction to the history, geography, government, economy, culture, and people of Pakistan. ... Read more

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Fantastic overview of Pakistan
Although this book is now out of print, it is well worth a search to find this jewel.It is rare to find a book like this on Pakistan, and in a way that is geared towards children. Wonderful! ... Read more

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With these questions in mind Professor Kapur charts the continuous power struggles of Pakistan's ruling elites. Using a historical and comparative approach he shows how the search for democracy and national identity has been hindered by army intervention, political intrigue and the failure of Islam to unite the various ethnic factions. While pessimistic about the chances for democracy in Pakistan, he hopes that the democratic pluralism and broad-based political activity emerging in much of Eastern Europe and the Third World will inspire ordinary Pakistanis to transform their country into a nation, in spirit as well as in name. ... Read more

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Christina Lamb spent a year reporting on the political turmoil in Pakistan in 1989 for "The Financial Times". As a result she won the Young Journalist of the Year Award. This book analyzes her experiences in what she sees as the tragedy of Pakistan as it moves towards the 21st century - a woeful catalogue of vested interests, corruption, overpowering military and unconfident and enfeebled new democracy. She looks at the treatment of women, urban life, patronage and government, the troubled relationship with India, Afghanistan and the power of tribes and drug lords, the great game of espionage on the frontier, Benazir Bhutto and her failure to impose change and the imminent breakdown of democracy. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Waiting for substance
Ms Lamb seems to have very little understanding of the complex melee that makes up Pakistan. Her observations are superficial and generally lacking great insight. She starts with preconcieved biases and nowhere in the book does she try and test these preconceptions. This is a truly disappointing book given the amount of time the correspondent has spent in the region.

Endorsement
The above review opinions and the contents of the book itself all prove the circumstances of Pakistan's reality. Its common people aren't worth the faeces they make: they allow tyrants to play around with them, their rights and their fate, and let them rob them openly. It is only when such people emigrate to Western societies that they manage to find some self-worth. This proves the hollowness of their claim to legitimacy, and tells us that they are an inert, spent culture fit for destruction only, since they can not manage to better their lot in their own societies and lands where they really belong, on their own. Anybody who has the guts to point out such basic realities in today's strayed-off-the-path world, promptly gets labelled as a "racist". These "immigrants" have the nerve to leave their own failing societies by hook or by crook and parasitically latch on to their Western host societies. When they find enough breath after recovering, they start extolling the virtues of Islam, and denigrating their hosts' culture. If they were so much in love with their own religion and culture, why did it need the "enemy" Western environment for them to be able to express their true sentiments? Instead why didn't they stay behind in their own country where such circumstances truly belong and freely prevail? (This basic discrepancy is often overlooked by Westerners due to "political correctness"). Such pestilent, deceitful types need to be eradicated. On the other hand, the Pakistani ruling classes are among the largest and the worst organised crime syndicates in the world (and America knows this very well). There are many who would like to fudge the truth about these matters for various reasons, but I am a Pakistani, well versed in the affairs of where I live, and nobody can contest the veracity of my assertions.

A pathetic, dirty soup of a situation
Though it does suffer the flaws of most modern (especislly englishlanguage) books written on such subjects, such as misspelling many placeand people's names, this book, in my opinion, remains a "classic"narrative of events and trends at the particular, very critical time ofPakistan's history, when it was written. It illustrates very well the (my)contention that the bourgeois/middle class/modern cultures have long sincesupersded the state of affairs prevailing--and decaying--in Pakistan'ssociety and culture today; and that this contorted "system" couldnot exist here without the active support of first the British and nowAmerica, which helps it live on artificially, andhas confined bourgeoisreality unfairly to the (feudal) minority elite of this social setup, whosepeople are inert, uneducated and passive (even if they were capable ofoverthrowing this setup, they could not replace it with anything but chaos.They need "help from above"). So the elites end up in enjoying"the best" of "both worlds", while the poor writhe onin their self inflicted wretchedness. Of course this doesn't mean thattension and explosive disintegration are not present. It is just that the"masses" don't know the right way to go about assertingthemselves. They are more inclined to view things in the "two wrongsmake a right" manner. Apart from all this, the basis for the existenceof the reality of the Pakistani entity is nonsensical and ridiculous, beingput together like something out of "Alice in Wonderland".Thenature of its name reflects that. ... Read more

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In 1971, a war which took place in Pakistan that resulted in the establishment of two separate countries; East Pakistan became Bangladesh, leaving the remaining four western provinces to comprise a truncated Pakistan. This book examines how literature by those who remained Pakistanis acts as a cultural response to the threat the war posed to a nationalist identity. It provides an analysis of the writing by Pakistani authors in their attempt to deal with the radical shock of the war and shows how fiction about the war helps readers imagine what the paring down of the country means for any abiding articulation of a Pakistani group identification.

The author discusses English-and Urdu-language fictions in the context of the historical debate about Pakistani nationalism, including how such nationalism informs literary culture, and in the contemporary interest in official apologies for the past. The author organises the literary analysis around four key issues: the domestic sphere and the family; the territorial limits of citizenship; multiculturalism, class, and nationalist history; and diasporic imaginings of the nation. These issues resonate across the fictions in both languages and the author's analysis of them traces how these works grapple with changing notions of what it means to be Pakistani after the civil war and offers an interesting discussion to studies in South Asia.