SHORT TAKES
Islam as template for diplomacy
Randeep Wadehra

Islamic Fundamentalism, Pakistan and the Muslim World
By Surendra Chopra & Kusum Lata Chadda.
Kanishka.
Pages vii+384. Rs 995.

Pakistan was born out of wedlock between oversized ego and unbridled ambition wrapped in Islamist fabric. Despite Jinnah’s belated, feeble, attempts at regenerating secularism in the newly independent Pakistan, the genie of fanaticism had already escaped the political bottle and set about spawning a culture of intolerance. Consequently, Islamic fundamentalism became the cornerstone of Pakistan’s domestic and foreign policies despite attempts by liberals and leftists to stem the rot. However, its policy to fabricate a brotherhood of Muslim nations fell flat when Indonesia, Turkey and Egypt contemptuously dismissed such attempts. Later, its membership of SEATO and CENTO rendered Pakistan’s credentials as leader of the Islamic world rather spurious. Moreover, Bangladesh’s birth too delivered a lethal blow to the credibility of its "Muslims are a separate nation" postulation.

Pakistan’s running battle with Afghanistan over the Durand Line’s validity, and the Pakhtoon problem, too, have repudiated the Islamic bonds that should normally have provided sturdy ballast to its religion based diplomacy. Attempts by various Pakistani rulers to concoct a West Asian identity for Pakistan also have not met with success. Moreover, the forces unleashed in the subcontinent during 1947 began to mutate into something really vile thanks to the Zia-ul-Haq–CIA partnership against the Soviet invaders in Afghanistan. Taliban provided a new template to Islamic fundamentalism. That the region is bristling with nuclear weapons does not help matters at all. Saner elements in Pakistan realise the peril their country is in, but do not know how to get off the tiger’s back without being devoured.

Although this book does well to examine Pakistan’s Islam-based foreign policy — too many minor details become irksome even for a determined reader.

Blessings
By Kiran Chopra.
Hind Pocket Books.
Pages 240. Rs 195.

This book’s diary format reminds one of more famous works, like the novelist Daniel Defoe’s Journal of the Plague Year (1722), George & Weedon Grossmith’s The Diary of a Nobody (1892) and Sue Townsend’s The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole Aged 13`BE. However, Samuel Pepys, arguably the most famous English diarist, had recorded various eyewitness accounts of public events like the great London fire between the years 1660 and 1669, spicing up the entries with lots of personal details and gossip. There have been other famous diarists like Francis Kilvert, W.N.P. Barbellion (pseudonym of Bruce Frederick Cummings — an invalid), John Evelyn, James Woodforde and Richard Crossman who have written on subjects ranging from politics to religion.

Kiran Chopra has established the Senior Citizens’ Kesari Club to enable the elderly to lead a dignified life. Her diary concentrates upon the club’s activities relating to the welfare of the aged, containing episodes that highlight what many of our senior citizens have to endure at the hands of their progeny.

Dalai Lama: A Study
By Som Ranchan.
Indian Publishers’ Distributors.
Pages 108. Rs 395.

He is popular for reasons that go beyond spirituality. He is the 14th Dalai Lama — a successor to the lineage of spiritual sovereigns that once ruled over Tibet. His real name is Tenzing Gyatso. He was born in a family of farmers that had a large number of children. As per the legend his father was on deathbed but recovered miraculously after Tenzing Gyatso’s birth. According to this book the 13th Dalai Lama had predicted misfortunes for Tibet, in which the land now finds itself whereas the present Dalai Lama has predicted resolution of Tibet’s plight in his lifetime itself. Would the prediction come true? Let us wait and watch.

This book, which could do with professional editing, takes a look at the various aspects of the Dalai Lama’s life.

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