Pakistan among top 10 failed states

Pakistan, plagued by insurgency and the worst-ever economic crisis, has been named among the "top 10 failed states" by the US-based reputed Foreign Policy journal. Pakistan, bracketed along with countries like Somalia, Afghanistan and Sudan, has improved its position only by a notch -- it is placed 10th in the index for 2009 published in the July-August issue of the magazine.

The fifth annual 'Failed States Index' is a collaboration between The Fund for Peace, an independent research organisation and Foreign Policy. The financial crisis is a "near-death experience for insurgency-plagued" Pakistan, which remains on IMF life support, the journal said. It is a sobering time for the world's most fragile countries--virulent economic crisis, countless natural disasters and government collapse, it noted.

Using 12 indicators of state cohesion and performance, compiled through a close examination of more than 30,000 publicly available sources, the journal ranked 177 states in order from most to least at risk of failure. India [ Images ] is ranked 87th, showing an improvement over the previous year. But its neighbours performed badly in the index with Sri Lanka [ Images ] placed 12th, Bangladesh 19th and Nepal 25th.