Is Pakistan the most dangerous place on earth?

I don't know if Pakistan is the most dangerous place on earth, but it certainly has all the elements of a very dangerous place. It is a failed state (having areas within its borders which it does not control) with only minimal democratic structures, largely controlled by a bifurcated military and intelligence service, part of it loyal to an Islamist shari'a state and part of it loyal to---well, we can't be sure to whom the others are loyal.

It is no coincidence that many of the Islamist terrorists intercepted recently in the U.S. before they could complete their planned bombings have connections to Pakistan (Faisal Shahzad, the DC 5, Najibullah Zazi, to name a few). Jayshree Bajoria, writing in the May 6, 2010, online issue of Foreign Affairs quotes Ayesha Siddiqa (Newsline): "South Punjab (Pakistan) has become the hub of jihadism."

There is a long history of coups d'etat, assassinations, politically-motivated executions, and corruption in Pakistan. Large numbers of the citizenry, if not all, seem to be obsessed with taking the rest of Kashmir away from India, and the nation has repeatedly threatened its neighbor with nuclear war.

It has so poorly controlled the nuclear technology that its "national hero" A. Q. Khan, "father" of Pakistan's nuclear program, originally stole from his employers, that Khan, apparently, was free to spread this technology and materials to every rogue state on the planet and profit monetarily from it in the process. He was pardoned by Musharraf for this great crime against humanity. Talk about "chickens coming home to roost." We have yet to see the end result of this venality.

Pakistan's military government has for decades propped up the Islamist militants, using them to wage an insurgency in Kashmir and allowing them to gain political ascendancy in the as yet untamed western provinces bordering Afghanistan, where Pashtun tribal loyalties transcend borders and create problems not only for Pakistan, India, and Afghanistan, but the entire world in which mujahid trained in that region perpetrate their atrocities.

The populace of Pakistan is woefully undereducated, with an adult literacy rate as of the first decade of the 21st century of 55%. The economy, though somewhat improved thanks to several billion U. S. dollars and aid from some of or allies, leaves much to be desired. Radical mullahs are churning out young militants by the hundreds and thousands who have been inculcated with hatred and the culture of the shahid (holy martyr)in their single purpose madrasas. The world will be dealing with these othewise uneducated, to-be-pitied-and-feared individuals for a generation or more.

When people value hatred over tolerance (real tolerance,not the post-modern kind), revenge and blood feuds over forgiveness and moving on, ignorance over wisdom, and death over life, they become a dangerous lot. It is a sorry situation and a formula for disaster, examples of which have been far too prevalent since the world first began to see the products of this formula, starting even before September 11, 2001.

Pakistan needs a lot of help to overcome these huge obstacles. I pray the world has the wisdom, courage, tenacity, and brotherly love to help Pakistan progress to a state that works to improve the lives of its citizens rather than demean and destroy them. I am hopeful that there are enough Pakistanis who see the benefits of these values and will do what is necessary to achieve them. However, the signs are not encouraging.