He was particularly upset over these remarks in the article: "the law of necessity recognized and upheld by Pakistan's highest judicial body is an honorable protection for military adventure in civil government. It is the best time for the military leaders to prepare themselves for withdrawal from politics with honor and dignity. Public indifference to military intelligence in statecraft has reached a peak." The article concluded that "the masses do not care for this or that form of government. The vast majority needs a peaceful and respectable living. The time to feed them on religious sentiments has ended. The economic depression is the decisive factor for the success of a regime. The Pakistani nation by and large is praying for an end to its miseries and agonies and is looking forward to a campaign of their cause. It just requires a sincere attempt to steer this mood into earnest action for the welfare of the common weal." This observation is still relevant after 15 years.

This book does not claim to be an exhaustive history of Pakistan. It concerns mainly with the role of the ruling elite -- a conglomerate of feudal "feudal "lords and civil-military-bureaucracy -- in maintaining the status quo in a bid to consolidate its grip on the power strings. In that context, the study examines the constitutional, political and economic developments. The study also examines the religious factor in the country's politics. Islam has been used as an important political factor since independence leading to strengthening of "obscurantism", weakening of secular lobby and fomenting sectarian polarization. The study should be both informative and provocative for the pointed comments that will be found throughout the book. Every effort has been made to define the essential theme and to analyze the significant events of the past five decades in a lucid and fast-moving manner.

I hope that this book will provide the reader with some insight into the happenings in Pakistan over the last five decades and would help in forming an opinion of events as they unfurled in the future. If this narrative, besides adding to the knowledge of events, provides a better understanding of our follies and weaknesses, it would have served a useful purpose. As with all studies of this kind, I take full responsibility for its contents and any errors of fact or interpretation are inadvertent, but mine alone.

Many thanks are due to several persons who have guided and encouraged me in the pursuit of this study. In expressing my gratitude and thanks for being able to produce this volume I am really indebted to Messrs Chaudhry Ahmad Khan and Anwar Beg and Zulfiqar Ahmed who went through the entire manuscript and suggested improvements in the text. I am also thankful to Mr. Raza Ali for making arrangement for the publication of this book in Pakistan. Last but not the least, I must express my feelings for the affectionate encouragement I received from my family -- my wife, Meraj, daughters, Atia and Nadia and son, Mohammad Arshad -- who showed a great tolerance even when I was using their time for this book.