The State of Pakistan and the State of War

In times of war the state takes on characteristics that align its functions with those that are to provide service to the effort. This involves heightened expenditure on the military, orientation of the economy towards war related production and ultimately sacrifice of health and education services for the war effort. Nationalism in its various hues is heightened to ensure public compliance with this distorted expenditure. With the largest, national daily newspaper, titled Jang, which in translation means ‘War,’ to what extent has the ‘war on terror’ merely enabled the continuity and further deepening of the Pakistani states’ always and already formed ‘war state’, providing an alibi for the Pakistani state to continue with exorbitant expenditure on the military and neglect of health and education. These descriptions though are not congruent with the narrative that exists about Pakistan as a ‘failed state,’ in which the evacuation of any formal provision of public welfare is blamed on lack of ability to control violence, rather than on conducting war.

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