Pakistan’s Enduring Challenges. Fair, C. Christine., and Watson, Sarah J., eds. University of Pennsylvania Press, 2015.

2017

Pakistan Enduring Challenges, edited by C. Christine Fair and Sarah J. Watson, is an attempt by the foreign researchers to highlight the problems of the country in which it is currently trapped in and how the state is trying to fight with the challenges posed to its security. The book is a compilation of different articles that surveys the political and socio-economic landscape of Pakistan. The authors have accurately portrayed the tensions, internal and external threats, which are the major hurdle in the peaceful existence of Pakistan. The book also considered positive social developments that have taken place during the past few years.

First part of the book deals with the security challenges in Pakistan. In chapter one, Stephen Tankel discusses that in Pakistan the line drawn between pro-state and anti-state militants is so complicated that sometimes it becomes very difficult to manage pro-state entities. In addition to this, the diversity of these militant groups is the main factor that is not uniting them. Owing to their ideological differences, these militant groups have not managed to gain power in political domains. In the second chapter of the book, Joshua White highlights the unity among various Sunni groups and ways how they are uniting to shape post-2014 security situation in Pakistan. He also highlighted the evolution of some Sunni factions and an ideological divide within the Sunni factions, which may cause a situation of Jihad within the Pakistan.

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