Critical pieces on Pakistan usually mention corruption, disparity, economic turmoil, climate catastrophes and political turmoil. That is necessary; a nation must confront its shortcomings. But this attention usually conceals an equally true reality: things did not go completely wrong, and things are not going completely wrong. Pakistan’s existence and resilience is one of the most underrated political narratives of our time.
At independence in 1947, Pakistan was described as a “moth-eaten” state in Chaudhri Muhammad Ali’s The Emergence of Pakistan. It inherited barely any infrastructure, seven million refugees and no central bank. Yet, in a decade, it had built core institutions, launched the Indus Basin irrigation system and negotiated the Indus Waters Treaty, one of the world’s most enduring water-sharing agreements. These are not signs of a nation born to fail.
It is argued by critics that Pakistan’s characteristic is dysfunction, but Anatol Lieven, in Pakistan: A Hard Country, demonstrates the way local kinship structures and informal institutions have also served as shock absorbers which permitted it to survive wars, sanctions and economic shocks that would have drowned other states. This paradox of weakness in formal state institutions and resilience in social cohesion has been the unsung driver of its survival.
Economically, Pakistan has experienced repeated busts followed by booms. The telecommunication revolution of the 2000s connected distant villages to the world. Now, the export sector of IT earns billions. Such success is only possible because informal economic networks can change quickly, even though they make it difficult to collect tax and reform.
On the geopolitical stage, Tariq Ali’s The Duel reminds us that Pakistan’s strategic location has made it too important to ignore, a nuclear “porcupine” in his words. From sheltering millions of Afghan refugees to playing a key role in China’s Belt and Road Initiative, Pakistan has repeatedly leveraged its position to punch above its weight.
Culturally, Pakistan is more than its crises. Grassroots creativity drives the country’s cultural strength, from Sufi music and Coke Studio to Nobel laureates and Oscar-winning documentaries. This is the same society that produced Abdul Sattar Edhi’s vast humanitarian network and Malala Yousafzai’s global education campaign.
None of that implies Pakistan’s issues are small. Gender parity is one of the lowest in the world, spending on education is stalled and climate change is a threat to existence. But history indicates Pakistan tends to bounce back when counted out.
For 78 years now, the nation has been written off, to only come back again. As Bulleh Shah once said, “Those who dare to cross the river, never fear the depth.” The story of Pakistan is not one of a problem-ridden state, but of a people who have not let those problems decide their destiny.
Syed Tahir Rashdi
Shahdadpur, Sindh
