Pakistan is among the top 10 failed states of the world and is even ahead of Afghanistan in a list of most vulnerable states, according to a new American study.
Pakistan is at the ninth position in a list prepared by Foreign Policy, an American magazine and the Fund for Peace think-tank on the basis of 12 criteria including human rights, security, and economy.
While Sudan tops the list, Afghanistan is at the 10th position in the 146-nation listing. India is at the 93rd spot, ahead of China, which has been placed 57th, with an assessment that India is better poised in the long term.
But several Asian nations, especially in South Asia, such as Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Bhutan fall into the top 40 category.
And in a reminder to the Bush administration of the realities on the ground, both Iraq and Afghanistan are in the top ten of the failed state index.
A failed or failing state is rated on a score based on 12 indicators: demographic pressure, refugees, group grievance, human flight, uneven development, economy, public services, human rights, security, role of elites and external influences.
For Pakistan, the contributing factors to its ratings are manifold but particularly important ones are mounting demographic pressures, massive movement of refugees, rise of factionalism and ethnic yensions.
Sudan tops the list because of its poor ratings in areas of group grievance and human rights; and is closely followed by the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the Ivory Coast, whose governments still do not control huge portions of their territory.
