In Crito, a dialogue written by the ancient Greek philosopher Plato, in a conversation between Socrates and his wealthy friend Crito of Alopece, Socrates asks his friend:
“Why, my dear Crito, should we care about the opinion of the many? Good men, and they are the only persons who are worth considering, will think of these things truly as they happened.”
Borrowing the Socratic dialogues’ analogy, Zahid Hussain, a renowned Pakistani journalist, writer, and political analyst, has compiled A Dialogue with History (2024) that is a collection of forty interviews with men of power and letters who have greatly influenced one way or the other the polity, state structures and socio-economic fabric of South Asia and beyond. He provides a first-hand account of information on state apparatus, society, and politics as it was being shaped by those whom he interviewed in the years between 1984 and 2004.
The purpose of compiling this collection as explained by the author is to document and preserve the historical trajectories, events, and voices of the past for the generations to come.
When it comes to the thematic scope of the book, it is divided into three interviewee categories: political leaders of Pakistan that includes amongst others Mir Ghaus Bakhsh Bizenjo, Professor Ghafoor Ahmed, Khan Abdul Ghafffar Khan, Mairaj Mohammad Khan, Hamida Khuro, Pir Ali Mohammad Rashidi, Syed Fakhr Imam, Khan Abdul Wali Khan, Rasool Baksh Palijo, Sher Mohammad Mazari, Imran Khan, Asghar Khan, Makhdoom of Hala, Jam Saqi, Nawaz Sharif, Mohammad Khan Junejo, Mumtaz Ali Bhutto, G.M. Syed, Dr. Mubashir Hasan, Asif Ali Zardari, Faooq Ahmed Khan Laghari, General Pervez Musharraf and Kalsum Nawaz; second catageoy of the interviewees is activists that includes Dr. Mahbubul Haq, Dr. Nafis Sadik, Habib Jalib, Khalid Ishaq, Asma Jahangir, Dr. Akthar Hameed Khan, Dr. Abdul Qadeer Khan and General Aslam Beg; and, third category consists of international leaders that includes Bani Sadr, Masoud Rajavi, Rajiv Gandhi, Gulbuddin Hekmetyar, Sibghatullah Mojaddedi, L.K. Advani, Parnab Mukherjee and Hamid Karzai.
The spatial scope of the book is Pakistan in particular and South Asia and beyond in general with special mention of political leadership of Afghanistan, India, and Iran.
The volume is nonetheless clear in its general objective to call for a scholarly and policy re-engagement with the political and institutional history of Pakistan in particular and of South Asia in general
The uniqueness of this collection manifests in its explanation of historical trajectories such as the Iranian Revolution of 1979, the Nawaz Sharif’s government ousted by General Musharraf in October 1999, the aftermaths of post-9/11 world political order and its economic and political impacts on the region especially on Pakistan that had to face the menace of religious extremism and terrorism as a result of an alliance with NATO forces led by United States who started a war on terror in Afghanistan, a western neighbor of Pakistan.
Hussain argues that the 30-year relationship between the US and Pakistan following the 9/11 attacks and the ensuing War on Terror compelled the then-Pakistani establishment to support the US against its own interests due to threats and pressure. This caused distrust between the two countries. The lack of understanding of Afghanistan and failure to negotiate with the Taliban prolonged the conflict and destabilised the region. It also highlights the critical junctures of both countries' policies and their failure to build trust and find a political solution to resolve the militancy in the region, especially in Afghanistan.
Hussain offers a detailed and eye-opening account through a dialogue with his contemporaries- the men of politics and power. It provides a complete portrait of the enigmatic political leaders of the time. This collection includes forty of Hussain's interviews focusing on the short life sketches of the interviewees, their political philosophy, and the way to approach the socio-economic and political challenges of the country and eventually the entire region when it comes to the case of interviewees who belong to India, Afghanistan, and Iran and beyond.
Densely packed with rare details of political developments during the last three to four decades, Zahid Hussain has produced a balanced analysis of the major changes in practices and arrangements that resulted from the policy decisions of political leaders of Pakistan and of the regions that resulted in political instability and economic fall of the entire region combined with the rise of religious extremism and terrorism causing a catastrophe to the socio-political fabric of the regions.
He has also explained the causes of the military control over civilian political institutions that have eventually produced a constitutional crisis and problem of constitutional legitimacy in Pakistan. Hussain places these developments in the context of long-established South Asian political cultures and the political behavior of the political leaders of the region that has remained arbitrary-a thesis developed by Professor Ilhan Niaz in his works on culture of power and governance in South Asia.
While interviewing a particular leader, Hussain has come up with a set of questions that not only deal with the personal story of the interviewee but also cover all the socio-economic and political aspects of that time. By doing so, he has successfully managed to record the major historical trajectories and political developments. It is to say that this collection is not only a record of the life stories of the political leaders but a contextual analysis of the internal and external policies of Pakistan that took shape between the years under study.
The volume is nonetheless clear in its general objective to call for a scholarly and policy re-engagement with the political and institutional history of Pakistan in particular and of South Asia in general. Entire of the material that the book provides is well crafted to support a scholarly recovery of the power politics, governance structures, and achievements and legacies of the political leaders who have been interviewed by the author. The volume is not only timely but cogently argued. It contains dozens of interesting details. Putting it another way, Zahid Hussain has produced an important compilation. It forms a valuable addition to his earlier explorations of the political history and socio-economic trends of Pakistan and beyond.
We are all philosophers and we develop our own philosophy by exchanging views and arguments. The dialogue form is and should remain the principal form of philosophising, since ideas do not merely exist –they develop. This is certainly the case in real-world philosophical interaction, as this book aptly demonstrates.
It is equally useful for general readers who are interested in understanding the political past of Pakistan and the life stories of leaders who have shaped the state structures of today’s Pakistan and also for researchers who may be interested in dissecting the public policy processes in South Asia or who intend to work on policy-making processes of Pakistan since this book is a semi-primary source that provides a first-hand account of the political history of Pakistan and beyond.