Pakistan

Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence is fast occupying the space in official lexicon the communists occupied half a century ago. The ISI is no innocent abroad, but the problem arises with the gradual abdication of a sense of proportion in establishment mindsets. And why blame the establishment alone? It is a national propensity. Our love for exaggerating things defines our existence.

Over the next three years the Asian Development Bank is scheduled to provide large grants under the country assistance package. In addition to the loans for the capital market, privatisation and other economic 'reforms', the ADB will provide substantial assistance for the Access to Justice Programme. This review of the loan agreement draws out issues for discussion.

This paper attempts to explain and understand the dismal condition of the social sciences and social science research in Pakistan. It establishes some encompassing parameters which help explain why things are the way they are. These include attempts to place the role of Pakistan's state and its bureaucracy in a certain context, and also delineates on the collapse of institutions in Pakistan leading the way for individuals, rather than institutions, to undertake and produce research. The dominance and presence of international donors and their roles with regard to social science research are also discussed at length. There is no 'community of scholars' in Pakistan, nor any social science professional association to speak of. The paper argues that with current trends in the academic community, the future for social science and social science research in Pakistan looks even more bleak.