HarperCollins Publishers India has acquired the world rights to publish Reimagining Pakistan: Transforming a Dysfunctional Nuclear State by renowned author and intellectual, Husain Haqqani. Speaking about this upcoming book, Haqqani says, ‘Salman Rushdie described Pakistan as a ‘poorly imagined country’. Given the country’s myriad problems I thought it was time to reimagine the idea of Pakistan, as one that takes the country forward rather than staying mired in a mythical past.’

To take stock of the contemporary situation, Pakistan, the world’s only nuclear-armed Muslim nation, has often been described as ‘a dangerous country,’ ‘a terrorist incubator’, ‘a state on the verge of failure’ and even as ‘an international migraine’. Haqqani, Pakistan’s former ambassador to the United States and one of the most important commentators on Pakistan in the world today, in his new book examines the causes of Pakistan’s perennial crises and answers the question: ‘Can Pakistan transform itself into a modern, functional state – and if so, how?’

Pakistan’s future prospects need examination beyond the simple dismissal of Pakistan as a bad idea (as critics tend to do) or defending Pakistan with its flaws by comparing it with countries that are worse off (as some Pakistanis and Pakistan apologists do). Further adding to this, Udayan Mitra, Publisher – Literary, HarperCollins India, says, ‘Husain Haqqani is one of the most astute and perceptive commentators on Pakistan today; it is an absolute privilege for us to be able to announce his new book Reimagining Pakistan which we’ll publish in time for the seventieth anniversary of Pakistan’s formation, this August.’

Reimagining Pakistan looks at the internal contradictions and fault lines of Pakistan’s last seventy years to lay out the course for a future other than the balkanization often predicted by critics. It is less of a forecast and more a description of policy choices the country must make to prove sceptics wrong.BLD