Pakistan among top 10 'failed states' [India rated better than China] Chidanand Rajghatta [Times of India] [ Wednesday, May 03, 2006 03:15:38 am TIMES NEWS NETWORK ] WASHINGTON: Nuclear-armed Pakistan has been ranked among the top 10 'failed states' in the world, ahead of Afghanistan and a host of crisis-ridden African countries, in a new world survey released Tuesday. Foreign Policy magazine's second annual index of failed states paints a grim picture of India's neighbourhood. Four other South Asian countries, Myanmar, Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka, are ranked 18th, 19th, 20th and 25th respectively. All of them are featured in the critical red zone of states most vulnerable to failure. According to the index, a failing state is one in which the government does not have effective control of its territory, is not perceived as legitimate by a significant portion of its population, and does not provide domestic security or basic public services to its citizens. The survey uses 12 indicators to measure failure, including criminalisation or delegitimisation of the state, security apparatus as "state within a state," rise of factionalised elites, intervention of other states or external actors, legacy of vengeance-seeking group grievance, chronic and sustained human flight, and uneven economic development. Pakistan scores heavily in all categories to chalk up a scary total of 103.1 out of 120, while other failing South Asian states are all score in the mid-90s. By contrast, 93th ranked India is rated the most stable country in the neighbourhood with a score of 70.4, well ahead of even China, which is ranked 57th with 82.5. The study debunks the notion that China's massive economic growth is making the country more stable. China lost ground from last year when it was ranked 75th, just ahead of India at 76, mainly on account of increasing inequity and corruption. Greater social mobility and increased decentralisation appears to have served India better and pulled it ahead of China in the stability sweepstakes. But the most startling slide, and a worrisome development for India, is nuclear-armed Pakistan's precipitous slide from 34th place last year to 9th place this year. Remarkably, Liberia, Burundi and Ethiopia are rated more stable than nuclear Pakistan. Only Sudan, which tops the list, and a handful of African countries such as Somalia and Congo, are ahead of Pakistan in the failure stakes. Iraq is ranked 4th and Afghanistan 10th. The survey said Pakistan's inability to police its tribal areas, where there is now an ongoing civil war, it's simmering ethnic tensions, and the devastating earthquake last year, has led to its sharp decline. Western European nations, along with Japan, Australia and New Zealand, are ranked among the most stable nations in the index.