PAKISTAN’S polity is fractured. Politicians are not willing to unlock horns; the economy is slipping down a steep slope; and terrorist forces are resurging. Some analysts view this situation as essentially a political crisis which will resolve by itself.
Others, less optimistic, find Pakistan in the midst of a ‘polycrisis’, with political unrest, an economic downturn and security threats pushing Pakistan towards chaos. Then there are the realists, who are concerned that Pakistan’s present civil strife might morph into a civil war.
A recent editorial in this paper also rang the alarm bell: “…the nation seems to be flirting dangerously with civil war. It is tearing itself apart under the weight of its own contradictions.”