Book Reviews
104 Book Reviews BOOK REVIEWS DR AYESHA SIDDIQA, MILITARY INC. INSIDE PAKISTAN’S MILITARY ECONOMY (Karachi: Oxford University Press, 2007), pages 282. Dr Ayesha Siddiqa is a military analyst with a Ph.D. degree in W ar Studies to her credit. She obtained this degree from King’s College, London. Her recently published book: Military Inc: Inside Pakistan’s Military Economy, is an extremely controversial book and as such, it has created plenty of ripples. She has mercilessly lashed at the economic “empire” that the armed forces have built up in Pakistan. Keeping in view her sound scholarly accomplishments, especially in the field of research and reference, it was expected that she would be fair and candid in her judgment and would carry out her analysis without any malice or prejudice, but, regrettably, her narrative falls far short of our expectations. The general reaction of the discerning reader is that the author has pre-conceived notions and her prime object is to malign the armed forces out of all proportions. Attributing motives to an Organisation that has made tremendous sacrifices for safeguarding the geographical and ideological frontiers of Pakistan, is extremely regrettable. However, of late, she appears to have softened her stance towards the armed force. Assuming a defensive position, she regrets that the people have not properly understood her viewpoint. At the recent launching of her book in London, she assured her audience that the book was not about Pakistan and, in fact, Pakistan was only used as a “case” study. There is a general consensus among the academia that the book suffers from many factual mistakes as well.
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