'Reimagining Pakistan' book review: Outpourings of a jaded campaigner

Husain Haqqani's latest book says nothing that other scholars have not said before, nor does he offer a new course for his troubled country

Although Pakistan has produced several colourful political personalities, there is perhaps no one to match Husain Haqqani and his chequered career.  As a student, he was affiliated with the student wing of the Jamaat-e-Islami and later briefly worked as a journalist with its mouthpiece. He was, in turn, adviser and spokesman for both Nawaz Sharif and Benazir Bhutto. Impressed with his sharp mind and fluent articulation, the latter appointed him ambassador to Sri Lanka before he was 40 years old.

In 1999, he was “exiled” by General Musharraf, became a full-time academic in the US before bouncing back as Pakistan’s