Oh Pakistan!

Pakistan has become a very dangerous country, and is now a grave threat to its own existence and to the stability and security of South Asia.

Pakistan has become a very dangerous country, and is now a grave threat to its own existence and to the stability and security of South Asia. nbsp;Pakistan is not yet a failed state, but it is close to becoming one. Its economy is weak and always dependent on US aid for stability.nbsp;At the end of this month it will be removed from the Emerging Markets Index and its stock market is expected to erode by 30-40 per cent. It has just received a bailout package of 3.1 billion USD from IMF and will need more up to 7.6 billion USD as its foreign exchange reserves have depleted by 75 per cent. It suffers from inflation at 12 per cent, one-fourth of its population is below poverty line and nearly four million people are unemployed.

The state is unable to exercise sovereignty within its own borders. Armed groups from within it run rampant, kill, murder and assassinate at will, and launch international terror campaigns unchecked. nbsp;Foreign nations carry out military operations within its borders. The war has now reached urban areas and cities like Peshawar and even Islamabad are not secure any more.

Pakistan as a state is a divided entity. Civil society is divided between those who are horrified by extremism and those who continue to sympathise with the extremists. The so-called silent majority is repeatedly victimised by terrorist attacks, economic uncertainties and by bombing raids by the US military. It remains passive and watches helplessly in a daze as the nation slowly crumbles.

The Pakistani state too is divided. The biggest cleavage is between the security agencies and the elected politicians. The military does not trust the politicians and the politicians exercise minimal control on the military. Both pillars of the Pakistani state have lost their legitimacy and the population at large does not trust or respect either of them. The army is scorned for waging a war against its own people and the politicians are despised for kowtowing to India and the US.

The Pakistani military, which for years has been its most stable and effective institution, too is divided. There are those in the military who see common ground with the US against the extremists. Then there are those who resent that the Pakistani military has become an instrument of George W. Bush8217;s war on Islam. They have strong sympathy for the terrorist groups; many of them were after all created by the Pakistani army with US help to fight the Soviets and have been useful assets until now.

Economic weakness combined with multiple fault lines make Pakistan a very fragile state at the moment. External pressure applied injudiciously may break it. What all of this means is that the fragility of Pakistani state and society essentially minimises the options that are available to India and the US as they jointly seek to combat terrorism emanating from within Pakistan. Presently the US and India are squeezing the weakest element of Pakistan 8212; its elected leaders. Because it is weak, the Zardari administration is complying, but the scope of its effectiveness is limited. The Zardari government does not have the credibility or the mandate to go after the army and reform and restructure it. nbsp;It can and should be pushed but only to a limited extent. India and the US must also work independently with the army to reform and purge it. India must give credible guarantees that an invasion of Pakistan is not imminent which will give General Kayani, the Pakistani military chief, the confidence to work with India.

A two-pronged strategy 8212; working with the elected government to fight extremism in civil society and with the army to purge it of extremist sympathisers and go after entrenched jehadi encampments is the best option. Both India and Pakistan have suffered at the hands of the extremists. Nearly 3000 Indians and over 2000 Pakistanis have died in terrorist attacks in the last three years. They must join hands to fight this plague, not allow it to become an occasion to fight each other.

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The writer is Director of Islamic Studies at the University of Delaware, and Fellow of the Institute for Social Policy and Understanding