By Raza Rumi

On the face of it, the Pakistani state with the clear endorsement of political parties and the majority of its citizenry is fighting a battle against militant Islamism. However, it is not as simple a formulation as it appears to be. The state is also cracking under extreme pressure for having lost its capacities and effectiveness a long time ago. The central tenet of state policy and implementation is adhocism that keeps a mammoth, oversized, under-paid and snail-paced elephant going. With Mughal and pre-industrial social structures reflecting in a colonial organisation, the Pakistani state is an unattended patient lying on an Elliotesque table, waiting for a surgery.

US President Barack Obama during an interview last week with a Pakistani news channel said he believed the Pakistani state was strong enough to win the military offensive against the extremists. This may have a soothing effect on some of the Pakistani commentators who tried to read too much into his comments days before the visit of President of Pakistan, Asif Ali Zardari, to the US some weeks back.

These commentators had then tried to show as if his comments would result into total collapse of the government in Islamabad within days and perhaps state of Pakistan will implode. The resolve that the government of Pakistan and the state institutions, particularly Pakistan’s Armed Forces, have shown in taking on militants in Swat, Bajaur and South Waziristan in the last couple of months indeed has shown that the state of Pakistan is functioning and can meet the challenges. This has only been possible because the nation stood behind the government and the armed forces. Equally important was the fact that we got into handling the situation instead of concentrating on finding the conspiracies.

Gen. James Jones, US President Obama’s national security advisor, recently met with President Zardari, as well as the PM and Army Chief. These talks concluded with very positive words from the American General, and demonstrated a continued strengthening of cooperation between the US and Pakistan.

Nadeem F. Paracha writes over at the Dawn blog about the the many anti-US banners put up by the Jamat Islami before their June 28:

With this extensive control of the news media by the fundos, it is imperative that their myths and claims be tested for their reasoning. So here is a counterpoint to six most popular myths, the fundo media lives by.

Fatima Bhutto, Benazir Bhutto’s estranged niece, has been writing articles and running a constant campaign against her uncle, President Asif Ali Zardari. Her articles have become more bitter with time. She and her stepmother Ghenwa Bhutto have campaigned against Shaheed Benazir Bhutto and her widower without much political gain. They could learn something from the estranged members of the Nehru-Gandhi family in India.

Maneka Gandhi, the widow of Sanjay Gandhi, brother of former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi, has been hostile to the more politically successful branch of the family for years. Now her son Varun Gandhi has entered politics on the side of his family party’s rival, the BJP. But while Maneka and Varun have found political success for themselves they have not wasted their time and energy on just trying to pull down the Rajiv Gandhi branch of the family –unlike Ghenwa and Fatima.

Maneka served as a Member of Parliament and even became a minister. Now her son Varun has become an MP for the BJP. When Varun showed up for the swearing-in of parliamentarians, he was courteous to his aunt Sonia Gandhi and was extremely civil with his cousin Rahul, who might some day become Prime Minister like his father Rajiv, his grandmother Indira and his great-grandfather Jawaharlal Nehru.

Now, why can’t our Fatima Bhutto follow Varun’s example and enter politics effectively while being civil to her uncle and his family? Instead of just being a spoiler for the Benazir Bhutto family, she could then make some contribution even if it means joining the Pakistan Muslim League that her grandfather Zulfikar Ali Bhutto broke away from to form the more successful social-democratic Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP).