Though there are many books by eminent writers, diplomats and strategic analysts on the turbulent relationship existing between the two neighbours, India and Pakistan and the wars they have fought with each other, yet very few books exist which have exclusively deliberated upon the deep state of Pakistan. Thus a book on the all-powerful deep state of Pakistan captioned “Tryst With Perfidy” by one of India’s distinguished soldiers and military thinkers, the founder chief of India’s Defence Intelligence Agency, Lt Gen Kamal Davar will be a welcome addition to our libraries. For security analysts and students of regional geo-politics who wish to fathom the minds of Pakistani leaders and some of its institutions as to why do they persist in sustaining an adversarial relationship with India, this book will indeed be useful. The writer has endeavoured, rather successfully, to unravel the unchanging Pakistani mindset in his path-breaking book.

Tryst With Perfidy has an excellent Foreword penned by one of India’s renowned former naval chiefs, Adm Arun Prakash. Commending the book, Adm Arun Prakash articulates “combining a soldier’s grasp of military history and strategy with a spymaster’s insight into the internal dynamics of India’s neighbourhood, the author attempts to analyse, what he (Gen Davar) terms the motivations and machinations of Pakistan’s Deep State to unravel what propels them to adopt policies and stratagems, which by conventional wisdom, are hard to fathom”.

Gen. Davar, in his well-articulated Preface explains the nuances of what constitutes a ‘deep state’ anywhere in the world. He refers to the Pakistani Deep State as an unholy trinity of the Pakistan Army, its intelligence agencies and the many terror ‘tanzeems’ it nurtures. Subsequently, this well-researched book comprehensively covers, in fourteen chapters, the entire gamut and mosaic of the vexed India-Pak relations and informs about not only regards the unbridled powers of the Pakistani Deep State but the internal damage it has caused to its parent nation itself. This is one bitter truth which sane Pakistani readers themselves and rational international analysts will agree with ! Many eminent Pakistani authors like Ayesha Siddiqa, Shuja Nawaz and Hussain Haqqani have been extensively quoted alongwith US writers like Stephen Cohen, Ashley Tellis and Christine Fair making the book balanced in its overall perspective.

This book has been formally endorsed by eminent writers like Dr Shashi Tharoor, a former High Commissioner to Pakistan Gopal Parthasarthy and former Indian Army Chief Gen. NC Vij. Dr Tharoor calls the book as a “sharp dissection of the powerful network of institutions that constitute Pakistan’s Deep State”. Mr Parthasarthy opines “this is essential reading for those interested in understanding the challenges that the Deep State dominating Pakistan national life poses, both within and beyond its borders.” Gen Vij terms the book as a “well-researched and authoritative book… and a must-read book” on the Pakistani Deep State.

Tryst With Perfidy may well be on its way to become a momentous work on the Pakistani Deep State, judging from the response it is getting especially from across the border! Lt Gen Kamal Davar, with his vast operational experience as a soldier and subsequently as a military writer, deserves congratulations for authoring this timely and very well-researched book. His final chapter on “The Way Forward” is indeed thoughtprovoking. Overall a must read for strategic professionals, diplomats, geo-political students and the general public, both in India and Pakistan.