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Pakistan stands among top 10 ‘failed states’

By Khalid Hasan

WASHINGTON: Pakistan has plunged from 34th on a list of failed states last year to the ninth slot this year, according to a list drawn up by the US-based journal Foreign Policy. The ratings are based on tens of thousands of articles from global and regional sources from May to December 2005, examined by experts using special software. The top 10 “failed states” are: 1) Sudan, 2) DR Congo 3) Ivory Coast, 4) Iraq, 5) Zimbabwe, 6) Chad, Somalia, 8) Haiti, 9) Pakistan, and 10) Afghanistan. Pakistan suffered one of the sharpest declines in the overall score of any country on the list, mainly because of its inability to police the tribal areas, the devastating earthquake of October 2005 and the rise in ethnic tensions. Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka are rated 19th, 20th and 25th respectively. India was ranked 93rd, Bhutan came 39th and the Maldives were not mentioned. The 12 factors which determined the listing were: mounting demographic pressures; massive movement of refugees and internally displaced peoples; legacy of vengeance-seeking group grievance; chronic and sustained human flight; uneven economic development along group lines; sharp and/or severe economic decline; criminalisation and delegitimisation of the state; progressive deterioration of public services; widespread violation of human rights; security apparatus as ‘state within a state’; rise of factionalised elites; and intervention of other states or external actors.

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