To say that Eqbal Ahmad was as a political sociologist, par excellence, would be to describe only one aspect of this scholar, writer, activist, humanist and thinker of rare quality. This aspect was perhaps fundamental to his ability to see so much clearer and further in to political events and developments than most political scientists and analysts could hope to. We are reproducing an article here that he wrote for Dawn, in January 1998, in which he not only analyses the roots of Pakistan’s present predicament, but also predicts it. Roots of Violence in Pakistan [Dawn, 25 January 1998] Proliferation of violence has become the most serious social problern in Pakistan today. Not a week, often not a day, goes by without some terrible act of violence shaking public confidence in the state’s ability to … Read entire article »