Pakistan: The Eye of the Storm [Hardcover]

Mr. Owen Bennett Jones (Author), Owen Bennett Jones (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0300097603 | ISBN-13: 978-0300097603 | Publication Date: August 22, 2002 | Edition: 1

Pakistan, a nation for only 55 years, has had a turbulent history. Ruled by the military for half its existence, it has seen three wars with India and the loss of much of its territory. The combination of political instability, deep-seated economic and social problems, and access to nuclear weapons has made it one of the most strategically sensitive countries in the world. The war in neighbouring Afghanistan has placed it at the very centre of global attention and projected its military ruler, General Pervez Musharraf, onto the world stage. Musharraf has become the first Pakistani leader in 30 years to dare to confront the country's Islamic extremists. But can he succeed in controlling the forces that helped create the Taliban in Afghanistan and fuelled the bitter conflict in Kashmir? Will his army and intelligence agencies be able to tame the radical elements that they created and sustained? In this history of Pakistan from 1947 to the present, Owen Bennett Jones describes the many fault lines in Pakistani society. He assesses the role of the nationalists in the provinces, the feudal landlords in the countryside, and the bureaucratic elite in Islamabad, and analyzes the complex relationships between religion, regional politics, and the armed forces. While most Pakistanis have a moderate, tolerant vision of Islam, he argues, the country's central institutions are so weak that the military regime may prove incapable of rescuing the "failed state" of Pakistan. As a BBC correspondent in Pakistan between 1998 and 2001 Bennett Jones witnessed at first hand many of the events that brought General Musharraf to power. His book contains the first detailed accounts of the 1999 coup, the Kargil conflict, and how Pakistan came to test its nuclear bomb. It should be of interest to anyone who wants to understand a country that was crucial to the expulsion of Soviet forces from Afghanistan in the 1980s and which, after the 11th September 2001 attack, became a key coalition partner in America's "war against terrorism".

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Yale, which presciently gave us Taliban, by Ahmed Rashid, now brings out a study of another crucial country in Central and South Asia. Former BBC correspondent Jones looks at the battle with India over Kashmir ("the single most significant reason for Pakistan's chronic instability") and argues that most Pakistanis want to live in a free and tolerant state, not a theocracy. He considers the future of General Pervez Musharraf's attempt to undo the "Islamization" initiated by his predecessor, General Mohammed Zia ul Haq. Illus.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Pakistan emerges here as a nation divided religiously, ethnically, politically, and geopolitically. This thematic study of its 55-year history moves from the roots struck by founder Mohammed Ali Jinnah and the Muslim League at the time of independence in 1947 to its current leader, Gen. Pervez Musharraf. Along the way, Jones treats the bomb and India, the Kashmir dispute, the nation's ethnic and political divisions, its three wars with India, and its changing role from Taliban supporter to antagonist. Jones lived in Pakistan from 1998 to 2001 as a BBC correspondent and draws from his experiences to craft a well-written, insightful, and critical journalistic history. He concludes that even barring Musharraf's assassination, little realistic hope can be awarded Pakistan's future, given the depth of the society's social, religious, and political divisions. Highly recommended.
John F. Riddick. Central Michigan Univ. Lib., Mount Pleasant
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 352 pages
• Publisher: Yale University Press; 1 edition (August 22, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0300097603
• ISBN-13: 978-0300097603
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.4 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,059,073 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very Good and Timely Book, October 4, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Pakistan: The Eye of the Storm (Hardcover)

One of the things I began to look for after September 11 was a readable book about Pakistan. I did not have much luck. There were few books about that troubled country on bookstore shelves and the ones that were tended to be dry academic bits of prose.

That's why Owen's book is such a valuable and timely addition to the limited collection of books about Pakistan. The author spent two years there as a BBC journalist and was witness to some of the crucial events in that country's recent history. He also had access to many of the key players who make Pakistan tick.

But it's the writing style that wins me over the most. Owens does not write like an academic, but he doesn't give us a boring travelogue filled with hard to visualize first person impressions. Instead, you could argue that his book is written as a primer for people who don't know much about Pakistan. In just under three hundred pages of lively writing, he surveys all the major problems and issues facing that country. Kashmir, the atomic bomb, the 1999 coup, the role of the army in Pakistani society, it's all covered.

My only criticism is this: at one point the author implies that the Taliban was one of the mujahideen groups that fought the Russians. That is certainly not correct. The Taliban movement only formed after the Russians left Afghanistan. It had fighters from that conflict in its ranks, but the organization did not fight in the Soviet-Afghan war. A small error, but I am surprised that Ahmed Rashid, the author of a very good book about the Taliban and someone who endoresed Owen's book, did not catch and correct. So, if I could I probably would have rated this book 4.5 stars. Oh, well.

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An Absorbing, Readable, but Forgettable Book, August 28, 2005

By 

Sanjay Agarwal (India) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Pakistan: The Eye of the Storm (Hardcover)

I bought this book some three years ago and took it on a trip, finishing it over six days. The book is written very well, and journalist in Owen Bennet Jones certainly needs to be commended.

Jones starts the book with President Musharraf, and moves back to the 1999 coup which installed him. He then picks up some of the key issues which drive Pakistan's foreign policy: Kashmir, The Bomb, The Army, among others. His writing syle is such that you immediately fall in with him and start thinking alongside. This makes the book an easy read. His style leans more towards description than analysis. Though the analysis is there, it is more journalistic than professorial (such as Stephen Cohen's: The Idea of Pakistan). There are also some good illustrations and cartoons.

However, he also leaves out important aspects of Pakistan (this is perhaps justified considering the title of the book). For instance, the entire book is written from the perspective of an outsider or a diplomat who would like to deal the Pakistan state. There is little analysis of Pakistan's domestic policies or problems, except to the extent that these influence its foreign policies. There is little information on Pakistan's economy or social institutions. Relatively little space has been given to Islam, which is strange considering that many of Pakistan's policies are supposed to be derived from the religious nature of the State. This is unfortunate because Pakistan's future may be determined largely by how it interfaces with Islam and how its economy shapes up.

And there are very few insights. What drives Pakistan, what holds it toegether, what may make it fail, these are all dealt with from a foreign policy perspective, but in an analytical style. Though Jones does make some very good connections between events and identifies patterns, the insights are simply not there. Perhaps one has to turn to an Asian mind such as V. S. Naipaul for that. However, Naipaul is somewhat hostile to the subject, and therefore may merely end up reinforcing some stereotypes.

All in all, an enjoyable book, but one that you may not be able to hold for long in your mind.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars the real story, November 21, 2002

By 

tacitus (London) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Pakistan: The Eye of the Storm (Hardcover)

Most foreign correspondents never get to write the real story. Deadlines, impatient editors, lack of space and so forth all get in the way. This book tells you what is going on in a way that you will never read in the daily press. Bennett-Jones knows Pakistan from the mountains to the desert, and it shows. It's well-written, incisive, informative. It belongs on the bookshelf--or on the desk--of anyone with a serious interest in south Asia...