GAME PLAN

A wide-ranging strategy for Pakistan to improve its future as an economic and political power.

Niazi observes that while Pakistan possesses all the “essential ingredients” to become a great economic power—not just on the Indian subcontinent, but also globally—the country “has long suffered from a lack of vision, planning, strategy, and continuity.” To improve the nation’s fortunes, the author outlines a “comprehensive plan” designed to capitalize on Pakistan’s wealth of natural resources, geographical advantages, and infrastructure. At the heart of this strategy is the establishment of a Pakistan Economic Gateway that would connect the nation to the continents of Asia, Europe, Africa, and Australia by overland and maritime corridors. This network of routes would not only capitalize on Pakistan’s “key geostrategic location” and enhance its commercial connectivity but also contribute to its food, energy, and climate security. The key here is to leverage Pakistan’s existing supply chain structure in addition to its considerable reserves of copper, cobalt, nickel, and lithium. In this concise but analytically exacting study, Niazi constructs a panoramic recipe for Pakistan’s geopolitical ascendancy, one which includes a somewhat dubious “integrated Eurasian and Indian Ocean strategy” to secure its military and political significance. The brevity of the book is its chief challenge—so much ground is covered so quickly that it’s difficult for any of the positions staked out by the author to register as fully persuasive. It is one thing to observe that Pakistan “must build a credible deterrence against asymmetric and conventional threats,” and quite another to explain exactly how this is to be done, a task the author eschews.  However, the notion that the proposed corridors could be the key to financing the nation’s infrastructural development is an enticing stimulus to further thought. At the very least, the reader is left wanting further elaborations upon Niazi’s thoughtful, well-informed proposals, and that makes his creative analysis well worth consideration.

A provocative blueprint for increasing Pakistan’s international status and influence.