The Jinnah Foundation of Peace and Public Policy will hold a function on September 12, in Baltimore for launching Hassan Abbas's book, titled 'Pakistan's drift into extremism,' who is a research scholar at Harvard.
The book examines the rise of religious extremism in Pakistan and analyses policies, and past fluctuating US-Pakistan relations.
It includes profiles of leading Pakistani Jihadi groups with details of their origins, development, and capabilities based on interviews with Pakistani officials and militant leaders.
The book contains important material on operation Gibraltar (the 1965 war with India), the conspiracy behind General Zia-ul-Haq's plane crash in 1988, a botched military coup in 1993-4, and on how General Musharraf handled the volatile situation after the 9/11 attacks.
A detailed profile of General Musharraf, the book evaluates India-Pakistan relations vis-à-vis the Kashmir conflict and Dr A.Q. Khan international network, and also offers an insight on Pakistan's domestic and regional prospects.
Its foreword has been contributed by Jessica Stern and its eleven chapters include: The Early Years: A Dream Deferred, Ayub Era: Kashmir and the 1965 war with India, General Yahya and the dismemberment of Pakistan, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto: The Charmer, General Zia-ul-Haq: The redefinition of a country, A return to democracy: Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif, General Pervez Musharraf: A season of hope, Jihadi outfits, 9/11 and the war on terror, and the Road ahead.
In his review, Professor Stephen Philip Cohen of the Brookings Institution says, "no one is better prepared to explain how Pakistan arrived at this point than Hassan Abbas, who knows the country and especially its Islamic radicals from the inside."
This book not only traces Pakistan's trajectory over the last forty years, but it provides "valuable insights" into the workings of its establishment, and should be required reading for anyone interested in a deep understanding Pakistan, he adds.
CNN's terrorism analyst Peter Bergen says, Abbas warns of a frightening future a scenario of extremism, tension between India-Pakistan relations, etc." But, he also offers us hope by suggesting a way out of this frightening morass, detailing a role for the US and the international community. It is to be fervently hoped that his message will be heard world-wide, especially in Washington."
From the foreword by Jessica Stern, Harvard University, "Hassan Abbas has written a book that will be required reading for anyone hoping to understand the dense thicket of Pakistan's Jihadist organisations, and the social and political milieu in which they have flourished. Hassan draws on his wide experience as a senior Pakistani police officer and government official, allied to his experience as an academic, to write a book that is nuanced, authoritative and well written. Any student of Pakistan will find Hassan's work richly rewarding."
Peter Bergen is author of 'The Holy War Inc: Inside the secret world of Osama Bin Laden.'
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