Imtiaz Gul

A good read, well written. It comes from a Pakistani author, and therefore his sensibilities are not my western sensibilities, nor do we share points of common reference. This is worth keeping in mind. He gives a vivid and frightening sense of the terrible human cost of the islamist drive backwards to the dark ages. The Army operations, the casual violence and kidnappings, the use of terror and some kind of death-based "sharia" law by the islamists, all make life in the FATA terrible to behold. He makes a convincing case for the complete withdrawal of support by the Pakistani state agencies, ISI above all, for the islamists. But he leaves open the question of the impact of islamists inside the state agencies. There is no rosy picture here, and no solutions. Further, the book ended on a guardedly optimistic note about Pakistani-western relations which within weeks of going to press was made redundant by the American killing bin Laden and the visceral and negative Pakistani reaction. I guess we will be hearing about the north-west frontier for a long time to come, from Mr. Gul and from others.… (mehr)

Disclaimer - The book I read is an advanced uncorrected proof which I received for free.

The book gets its title from a speech President Obama made on March, 2009: "For the American people, this border region has become the most dangerous place in the world,"

This scrupulous coverage of Pakistan was written by the knowledgeable Imtiaz Gul. The author does not only quote reference material but also an array of impressive personas he personally spoke to. For me, the element of personal knowledge gave this book immense credibility and I ultimately viewed the author's insights as expert opinions.

See the rest of the review at: http://manoflabook.blogspot.com/2010/07/most-dangerous-place-pakistans-lawless.h...… (mehr)