The Nine Lives of Pakistan: Dispatches from a Divided Nation

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Marshall, T (2015) Prisoners of Geography: Ten Maps That Tell You Everything You Need To Know About Global Politics. We don’t share your credit card details with third-party sellers, and we don’t sell your information to others. Most purchases from business sellers are protected by the Consumer Contract Regulations 2013 which give you the right to cancel the purchase within 14 days after the day you receive the item. Walsh uses nine lives from Pakistan to tell the story of one of the world’s most perplexing (and misunderstood) countries.

The city is envisioned as Bhutan’s new economic hub – an opportunity to capitalize on the economic corridor linking South Asia to Southeast Asia. Balochistan is the story nobody’s heard of outside Pakistan, and few inside the country are particularly aware of.Consequently, throughout the book, Walsh explores the dangers of being progressive or having views contrary to those in charge where, quoting police officer Chaudry Aslam, ‘the line between criminal and cop are hopelessly blurred’ (pg 206). Over a decade covering the country, his travels took him from the raucous port of Karachi to the gilded salons of Lahore to the lawless frontier of Waziristan, encountering Pakistanis whose lives offer a compelling portrait of this land of contradictions. At the intersection of South Asia and its geopolitics, SAC cultivates dialogue to shape policy and forge ties between the region and the global community. Overall, Walsh has the view that India and Pakistan have a lot of similarities but, due to their history, simply cannot be harmonious neighbours.

Despite being a complex read, The Nine Lives of Pakistan: Dispatches from a Divided Nation is compelling, and it is worth persevering since it provides a detailed personal discovery of an extremely interesting country. Few Pakistanis seem willing to accept that the plane crashed due to the failure of the Pakistani military to perform required maintenance, instead accepting stories of exploding mangos and machinations by differing intelligence agencies and shadowy insurgents. Do you think new geopolitical alignments and Pakistan’s inclination toward China and the enmity for India will bring more oppression for ethnic minorities in Pakistan amid the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC)? The British Empire and colonialism are also explored in books such as Prisoners of Geography: Ten Maps That Tell You Everything You Need To Know About Global Politics by Tim Marshall (2015) (which has a chapter dedicated to India and Pakistan) and Empireland: How Imperialism Has Shaped Modern Britain by Satnam Sanghera (2021).Manto is best known for his short story “Toba Tek Singh,” a powerful parable about the absurdities of Partition in 1947. The Nine Lives of Pakistan: Dispatches from a Divided Nation is Declan Walsh’s reflection and exploration of the ‘complex and interesting country’ of Pakistan (pg 7).

The 103 third parties who use cookies on this service do so for their purposes of displaying and measuring personalized ads, generating audience insights, and developing and improving products. Painting a vivid portrait of a country that has long been in flux, Walsh provides us with a narrative that is rich with nuanced storytelling as well as in-depth information about contemporary Pakistan and its complex social and political situation. We learn from the book that there was a plot to kill veteran activist Asma Jahangir when she opened up against human rights abuses in Balochistan. For me, the book kindled old and intense memories, and provided an update on what has transpired since my departure.It’s strange, just by dint of its size and location: This is a province that accounts for 43 percent of the landmass of a sizable country, wedged between Iran and Afghanistan. Through intelligent storytelling and honesty he leaves us wondering about the “what if’s” that leave us so frustrated with the country and also with the “what next” question hanging. On my phone, I scroll through scattered reports of election-day trouble: a gunfight outside a polling station in rural Punjab; a Taliban bombing in the port city of Karachi that killed eleven; and a clash between rival political factions in the restive province of Balochistan. What’s the reason behind Balochistan’s information blackhole and what can the media do when there is no access? IranSource provides a holistic look at Iran’s internal dynamics, global and regional policies, and posture through unique analysis of current events and long-term, strategic issues related to Iran.

The result is an ideal book for a reader with little or no exposure to Pakistan, who nevertheless wants to read one inclusive book that provides an accurate rendering of the fundamentals. Forward movement on any front requires initiative from its key Members, developed and developing alike, to find common ground and make the hard decisions needed to bridge gaps. The South Asia Center (SAC) is the hub for the Atlantic Council’s analysis of the political, social, geographical, and cultural diversity of the region.To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average. On assignment as the country careened between crises, Walsh traveled from the raucous port of Karachi to the salons of Lahore, and from Baluchistan to the mountains of Waziristan. Wilkinson et al (2021) also explored this in the National Geographic article ‘ A Line in the Mountains’ which explores the boundaries in this territory claimed by Pakistan, China and India due to the unclear maps created after Pakistan’s formation in 1947 and the resulting disputes. And the rivalry with India, which has driven that policy for decades, has only gotten worse, in part as a result of the Hindu nationalist government of Narendra Modi. In Pakistan it is common to manufacture and believe in elaborate conspiracies to explain events with logical explanations.