This book is very readable and highly persuasive. It is mainly intended for an American audience. This has been translated into Urdu and released in Pakistan where it will serve as an election manifesto of General Musharraf in next year’s presidential election. In this book, he portrays himself as a Muslim of enlightened moderation, committed to fighting terrorism and extremism, a ruler who wants to restore democracy to his country, which he believes has been denied democracy since Ayub Khan’s military takeover in 1958, who wants to empower women and focus on education for the masses, on higher education and health services, and who aims to incorporate Pakistan as a valuable and respected member of the international community.

He comes through as a modest man. He makes no claims to intellectual brilliance. He confesses to a record of indiscipline in the junior and middle ranks of the army. He admits that his elevation to the post of chief of army staff was because Nawaz Sharif concentrated the power of appointment of the chief in his hands (it was with the president earlier). He did not plan the coup which put him in power. That was done by the senior army establishment when he was still flying from Colombo to Karachi.

He takes pains to project himself as an independent Pakistani patriot solely committed to securing Pakistan’s interests and security. Though he refers to the US ultimatum following the 9/11 attack, he asserts that his decision was based solely on calculations of Pakistani national interest. In his view, believe it or not, it provided an opportunity to fight terrorism and extremism which he admits could not have been done on Pakistan’s own resources. He concedes the majority of his countrymen are anti-American and his decision was not popular but that it was in the best interests of Pakistan. He is highly critical of American policy on the Israel-Palestine issue, on Iraq and on imposition of democratisation on Islamic nations. He highlights Pakistani achievements in capturing and neutralising Al-Qaeda elements on Pakistani soil and downplays the US role in that field. He is highly critical of American delays in providing sophisticated equipment such as helicopters, unarmed aerial vehicles and night vision devices which could have made anti-Al-Qaeda operations more effective. His accounts on fighting terrorism are so detailed that one wonders whether those chapters were not contributed by his staff. He rebuts criticism from the US media and think-tanks that Pakistani cooperation in fighting terrorism is not adequate.

... contd.