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The Nine Lives of Pakistan: Dispatches from a Precarious State QUOTES

The Nine Lives of Pakistan: Dispatches from a Precarious State QUOTES

1 " Zia perished in 1988 "

― , The Nine Lives of Pakistan: Dispatches from a Precarious State

2 " If Pakistani cities were caricatures, most would be easy to draw. Lahore is corpulent and languid, stretched out in a shalwar kameez, twirling its moustache over a greasy breakfast. Islamabad cuts a more clipped figure, holding court in a gilded drawing room, proffering Scotch and political whispers. Peshawar wears a turban or a burka, scuttling among the stalls of an ancient bazaar. But Karachi is harder to sketch. It has too many faces: the shiny-shod businessman, rushing to the gym; the hardscrabble labourer who sends his wages to a distant village; the slinky young socialite, kicking off her heels as she bends over a line of cocaine. "

― , The Nine Lives of Pakistan: Dispatches from a Precarious State

3 " Within a few years of Modi becoming prime minister, the civil and political rights of India’s Muslim minority came under sustained assault. It "

― , The Nine Lives of Pakistan: Dispatches from a Precarious State

4 " On my first trip to Pakistan, as the plane descended to Islamabad, the pilot addressed the cabin: ‘Insha’Allah we will be landing shortly,’ he announced, somewhat disconcertingly. The phrase was hardwired into the national psyche – a code, a philosophy, a comfort blanket to get through tough times. Sure, things were hard, people admitted. But Pakistan would stumble through, as it had always done – Insha’Allah. Were "

― , The Nine Lives of Pakistan: Dispatches from a Precarious State

5 " was a bizarre turn of events, as jarring and disconcerting as a pitched battle in downtown Brussels or Washington, DC. "

― , The Nine Lives of Pakistan: Dispatches from a Precarious State