Book Review
The Nine Lives of Pakistan (by Declan Walsh)
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- What I found frustrating though was that Walsh practically regurgitated the talking points that have captured Western attention for the past two decades: Terrorism, sexism, homophobia, misogyny, lawlessness, corruption, dysfunction etc. I’m not saying those aren’t important issues. They are, and we should talk about them. But the narrative that Pakistan is infested with those problems is now trite. That story has already been told many, many times (and been milked for plenty of money). Walsh might have focused on something fresher, for instance, the grim reality of climate change or the burgeoning technological revolution. New-age issues facing Pakistan have gone relatively unexplored and Walsh could have broken new ground broaching them.