Pakistan has been described as 'the most dangerous place on earth', yet Owen Bennett Jones's title is appropriate, for though storms rage all around Pakistan, the country itself is surprisingly calm - surprisingly at least to anyone depending for information on the Western media, which have all too often been given to hysterical talk about state collapse, military tyranny, imminent Islamist revolution, terrorist takeover and a nuclear war with India. All these dangers are present, but with the possible exception of war with India, none is as great as is usually argued.

LRB 23 January 2003 | PDF Download