The Indian edition of ‘Aboard the Democracy Train,’ will be released in India in September 2012, courtesy Anthem Press.
Now, India may quench its curiosity about common heritage neighbor – Pakistan – carved out of its territory 65 years ago by the British.
The book has been written by the only woman reporter for the English language Dawn newspaper in the 1980s, at a time when the nation was under Gen. Zia ul Haq’s strict Islamic military rule.
It is a personal narrative of how the post partition exodus of Hindus, Christians, Zoroastrians and Jews had already begun to change the multi ethnic, multi religious fabric of the country.
The mass migration of Muslims from India into Pakistan is woven into the author’s journalistic experiences of how this transformed the ethnic and national politics of the country.
It is a story of Pakistan’s faltering democracy, with a front seat view of the rise and fall of the nation’s only woman prime minister – Benazir Bhutto.
For the contemporary Indian reader, the book gives insight into why the 11-year-old US invasion of Afghanistan appears to have driven war ravaged Pakistan to relax its anti India stance… leading to an ice thaw in the sub-continent.
Without glossing over Pakistan’s problems, the author has given a human face to the country – with the prospect of promoting better understanding between the people of Pakistan and India.
Aboard the Democracy Train: A Journey through Pakistan’s Last Decade of Democracy
By Nafisa Hoodbhoy
Available in India in September 2012
Imprint: Anthem Press
ISBN 9789380601991
September 2012 | 268 Pages | 216 x 140mm / 8.5 x 5.5 | 16+ images and maps
Price: Rs 495.00