Since Pakistan’s inception in 1947, the Army has remained its most powerful institution and dominated Pakistani politics. Its enduring rivalry with India has drawn it into four wars, all of which it failed to win. Yet, the Army continues to pursue policies that are India-centric and detrimental to the Pakistani state.
On July 7, Gateway House hosted Christine Fair, Assistant Professor, Georgetown University and Author of Fighting to the End: The Pakistan Army’s Way of War. She was in conversation with Sameer Patil, Associate Fellow, National Security and Terrorism to decode the Pakistan Army’s paranoid obsession with achieving strategic parity with India, and its distorted view of history, which has prevented Pakistan’s development and integration into South Asia.
C. Christine Fair is an assistant professor at Georgetown University’s Center for Peace and Security Studies, which is part of the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service. She has a Phd from the Department of South Asian languages and civilization, and an MA from the Harris School of Public Policy. She was senior political scientist with the RAND Corporation, and political officer to the UN Assistant Mission in Kabul. She speaks English, Hindi, Punjabi and Urdu; and has published extensively on South Asian politics and military affairs.
Sameer Patil is Associate Fellow, National Security, Ethnic Conflict & Terrorism studies, Gateway House. Prior to this, he was Assistant Director at the National Security Council Secretariat in Prime Minister’s Office, New Delhi. Sameer has written extensively on various aspects of national security including cyber security, fake currency, terrorism, India-Pakistan relations, India-China relations, the Kashmir issue and nuclear proliferation for various magazines, journals and newspapers.
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