The Nine Lives of Pakistan: Dispatches from a Divided Nation

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However, Walsh does mention the term ‘desi’ which references the culture of South Asia as a whole which would contrast this as a reason for such divides and tensions. The opinions expressed by the authors published in this Journal are not necessarily those of members of the Editorial Advisory Board.

This man with a conscience, who could no longer carry out the dictates of his agency and has resigned, provides Walsh with some closure, but, like so much regarding Pakistan, the real story remains unclear.Plainclothes ISI operatives can be found in towns and cities across Pakistan, low-key but ubiquitous, like pigeons on a power line. With ISI seemingly all-pervasive in Pakistan and linked to all manner of secretive plots and double-dealing, it is easy for Pakistanis to see elusive plots everywhere. While such persons exist in Pakistan and are favorite topics in Western media accounts, they are the exception rather than the rule. An observant Muslim may say his or her prayers then guzzle whiskey after dinner; even socially liberally people might hide important details about their lives from their own families.

He meets a crusading lawyer who risks her life to fight for society's most marginalised, taking on everyone including the powerful military establishment; an imperious chieftain spouting poetry at his desert fort; a roguish politician waging a mini-war against the Taliban; and a charismatic business tycoon who moves into politics and seems to be riding high – till he takes up the wrong cause. As a result the Pakistani mindset is characterized by a prevailing fatalism, encapsulated by the phrase Insha’ Allah (if Allah wills it), which Pakistanis routinely apply to any and all situations.Pakistan and East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) were formed during the decline in colonial dominance of the British Empire but were ‘hurriedly carved from blood-soaked maps’ (pg 56).