The United Service Institution of India was founded in 1870 by a soldier scholar, Colonel (later Major General) Sir Charles MacGregor. The story of its growth is the story of the growth of the Indian Armed Forces. It was founded for ‘furtherance of interest and knowledge in the art, science and literature of the Defence Services.’
Pakistan has been a country of intrigue and interest for many reasons. Envisioned as a secular homeland for Muslims in South Asia, Pakistan has found it extremely challenging to integrate its population which is distinctly divided along ethnic, sectarian and social fault lines. Pakistan’s attempt to leverage its strategic location has not yielded the dividends as expected. Its relationship with the west and Islamic countries has witnessed turbulent upheavals over the years. In the recent period, Pakistan’s iron bond with big brother China has also come under stress amidst security threats to China’s assets and investment in the country. In the backdrop of a feeble and nearly ineffective political dispensation, military dictators have repeatedly usurped power in the country with impunity. As a consequence, Pakistan Army has become resentfully stronger assuming the perceived role of the custodian of the idea of Pakistan. Pakistan’s inconsistent economy is caught in a downward spiral surviving on IMF bailouts and frequent doles from Islamic countries besides China. Irrespective of all of the above and multiple catastrophes, Pakistan has managed to stay afloat and remains a country which ‘Fails to Fail’. It is therefore important and extremely relevant for India, with whom Pakistan shares a belligerent relationship in perpetuity, to analyse the widening fault lines in Pakistan from a futuristic perspective while chartering our course of engagement with the western neighbour in the region.