Nitin Prasad

Contemporary Pakistan Nitin Prasad

Pakistan has exercised different forms of Political systems like Presidential, Parliamentary, Federation and One Unit. Local Bodies system has also been influenced by these experiences. It has been facing Political, non-political, dictators and bureaucratic influence. Pakistan has poor facts of democracy. It has been ruled by the military, while the Military governments always generated mistakes with the politicians. Pakistan's capacity to protract the low cost conflict in Kashmir is beyond any doubt. Although the likely spillover effects of this on Pakistan's polity are obvious, they will be, to a great degree, manageable. The Islamist organisations, in spite of their opposition to elements of the state and its armed forces, are in favour of maintaining the unity of the country that is, for them, "the fortress of Islam" and "the only Islamic nuclear power". And though the US wants to tame the Pakistan army, and especially ISI its intelligence agency, it knows it will not benefit from the disintegration of the country. Nevertheless the pressures that imperialism and neoliberalism are putting on the country are creating a complex mesh of ethnic and nationalist tensions that could lead to a spiralling war. Only by fighting for a unified working class response to the pressures of globalisation and war can we hope to be able to offer an alternative.