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The writer is author of The Bhutto Dynasty: The Struggle for Power in Pakistan.
OF all Pakistan’s accomplishments the most astonishing has been the construction of a nuclear bomb. Far richer countries have tried and failed to go nuclear. It could be argued that South Korea which faces a nuclear-armed neighbour that challenges its right to exist has achieved a greater degree of security and well-being by concentrating on economic growth. But such arguments are now academic: Pakistan has the bomb and it’s not going to give it up.
When Zulfikar Ali Bhutto first came up with the idea of a nuclear-armed Pakistan, he had two objectives in mind: parity with India and Pakistan’s emergence as the world’s pre-eminent Muslim power. What he may not have foreseen is just how powerful a factor the programme would become in the country’s internal political development.
Achakzai’s statement generated intense indignation among the wider circles of Punjabi literati
Last Sunday, Mehmood Khan Achakzai’s insinuation about Lahoris’ collusion with Hindus and Sikhs against Afghans stirred a heated response. I think by Lahoris he meant Punjabis in general. The people of the Punjab are frequently accused of not putting up a fight against invaders from the north.
Achakzai re-invented that allegation by accusing Punjabis (he called them Lahoris, though) of aiding and abetting Hindus and Sikhs to defeat Afghans. Thus, to him villainy of the Punjabis had been their collusion with Hindus and Sikhs against the Afghans and not what they are usually accused of.