"Mansoor Ahmed's Pakistan's Pathway to the Bomb reveals a new history of Pakistan's nuclear weapons program and the bureaucratic competition that shaped it from its inception in 1956 until the 1998 nuclear tests and beyond. While the enduring security dilemma from India was the chief driver for the country's quest for the bomb, heated domestic rivalries within the country's technocratic community influenced the direction and growth of the nuclear program in equal measure. Ahmed offers a revisionist assessment of the role of Dr. A. Q. Khan, the giant of Pakistan's nuclear program. He reveals the competition between Khan Research Laboratories and the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission, how A. Q. Khan was able to build a cult of personality that inflated his role in the public mind, and how Khan was able to build a fiefdom largely outside of state control that proliferated nuclear technology abroad. Drawing on elite interviews and previously untapped primary-source documents, this book sheds light on the process by which Pakistan became a nuclear power"--

The book is a political biography of the author-in which she has intertwined the impacts that key political events of the country have had on her personal life-and on the destiny of the nation. It is also an anecdotal account of missed opportunities. The narrative begins with a chapter on the author's privileged childhood, her entry into politics, and the hurdles and struggles that she faced along the way as a woman politician in the male dominated society of rural Punjab. She provides details of the deterioration and erosion of the country's institutions. A unique insight has been offered on the rise of extremism. Pakistan's close embroilment in Afghanistan has been covered, beginning from the late seventies right up to the first decade of the twenty-first century. The book goes on to discuss the high developmental potentials of Pakistan, when it was carved out of India as a separate country at the time of Partition in 1947; the unremitting diminishing progressive curve since the country's inception; and the consequent rise of militant and extremist groups emerging out of religiosity rather than religion onto its political landscape. The author attempts to provide insights into the reasons: poverty and inequity of our societal construct, conspiracies spawned by individuals and interests, both at the national as well as international levels, who merely sought to serve what were often their perceived short-term aims and objectives. As an individual and as a politician, the author often found herself caught up, quite unwittingly, in the vortex of this issue and ensuing events, with her life often under threat, and her career in politics interrupted, even prematurely curtailed. Light has also been shed on the regressive elements in Pakistan. Reliant on personal notes and diaries and other source material, Syeda Abida Hussain in this book, has recorded events that have resonated with her, and in which she had some part to play. The text has been enhanced by corresponding photographs, both, from her personal and public life. --Provided by publisher.

The Karakoram Highway was constructed by the Pakistani state in the 1970s as a major development project that furthered the national interest and solidified state control over the disputed region of northern Pakistan. Focusing on this highway, this book provides a unique analysis of the links between space, travel and history in the formation of the Pakistani nation-state. The book discusses how the highway was a symbol for an imagined national identity, and goes on to look at how it offered Pakistan a pre-Partition history and a fixed territory, by providing a historical link to the Silk Route and a contemporary geographical linkage to Central Asia. Examining the influence of the diverse travellers along the Karakoram Highway, the book shows how global flows of development, trade, labour, and tourism have remapped the Pakistani nation-state and reshaped the local. Providing a fresh perspective on the nation-state of Pakistan, this book is an important contribution to studies on South Asian History, Anthropology, Politics and Geography.

An immigrant's son shuns his heritage and his homeland, only to see them come to dominate headlines in a manner that forces him to come to a deeper understanding of himself and his world. This notable collection of personal stories and cultural insights illuminates anew the grand American immigrant experience. Just as notably, Lessons from the Holy Wars is invaluable for anyone seeking insight into the encounter-or collision-of Islam and the West. Filled with wonder and wit, it offers a revealing perspective on the events of our day.

A realistic assessment of the evolution of contemporary Pakistan, one that eschews lurid headlines for sober analysis.

This book studies the wars Pakistan has fought over the years with India as well as other non-state actors. Focusing on the first Kashmir war (1947–48), the wars of 1965 and 1971, and the 1999 Kargil war, it analyses the elite decision-making, which leads to these conflicts and tries to understand how Pakistan got involved in the first place. The author applies the ‘gambling model’ to provide insights into the dysfunctional world view, risk-taking behaviour, and other behavioural patterns of the decision makers, which precipitate these wars and highlight their effects on India–Pakistan relations for the future. The book also brings to the fore the experience of widows, children, common soldiers, displaced civilians, and villagers living near borders, in the form of interviews, to understand the subaltern perspective. A nuanced and accessible military history of Pakistan, this book will be indispensable to scholars and researchers of military history, defence and strategic studies, international relations, political studies, war and conflict studies, and South Asian studies.