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Pakistan

I strongly support the Foreign Secretary's emphasis on the need for Pakistan to move towards democracy and the rule of law. But may I suggest a note of caution? Will he agree that the process of transition in Pakistan will be difficult and dangerous, given the history of that country, the role of the army and its possession of nuclear weapons? In particular, will he learn from the experience of 1979, when western pressure on the Shah, for understandable reasons, led unintentionally not to democracy and the rule of law but to an extremist, Islamist regime in Tehran, with all the problems that the international community now faces? That is not an argument against reform in Pakistan, but it does mean that the west should not seek to destabilise that country as a whole, as that could have incalculable consequences.