The Shadow Nation: Strategic Culture of Pakistan’s Deep State

Pakistan Military has used the mantle of being the custodian of ‘Nazariya-e-Pakistan’ (idea of Pakistan) as causa principalis to permeate into the societal fabric of Pakistan and impose its strategic culture on Pakistan, the state.  While externally it may be revisionist, internally Pakistan Military would prefer to maintain status quo ante. This book is a critique on Pakistan’s military dominance and how the army’s grip on national ideology, politics and society has persisted. Pakistan Military has shaped a revisionist, anti-India posture by manipulating the feudal elite, the political satraps, theological cronies, the judiciary and the bureaucrats through a ‘carrot and stick’ regimen by the Deep State. The Pakistan Military today controls the trajectory of Pakistan and cleaving the strategic culture of the state from that of the military is virtually impossible. The revisionist mindset of Pakistan is a direct manifestation of this confluence, wherein despite the internal fractures and fluctuations, Pakistan’s inimical posture to India has remained a constant. Pakistan Military’s ‘numero uno’ status took a hit on 09 May 23 with the riots targeting the military establishment, heralding the ‘fall from grace’. The cleaving of the military from the people is a ‘strategic shock’ second only to the creation of Bangladesh. As internal dissent grows and its hold weakens, the book examines the strategic implications for South Asia and proposes a multi-dimensional response to unhinge the military’s central role in Pakistan’s trajectory.