Every August 14, Pakistan performs sovereignty like a state auditioning for the role of itself. Flags breed on rooftops. Fighter jets carve patriotism into the sky. Politicians discover freedom for twenty-four hours. Generals appear beneath enough ribbons to upholster a sofa and assure 250 million people that Pakistan bows before no one.

Then the ceremonies end, the bunting droops, and the rulers return to asking Washington, Riyadh and assorted creditors what sovereignty should look like this quarter.

Seventy-nine years after 1947, Pakistan’s problem is not that it lacks the legal furniture of independence. It has borders, embassies, nuclear weapons and an anthem thunderous enough to frighten colonialism retroactively. Its problem is that the ruling order has repeatedly treated sovereignty not as power to be exercised, but as an asset to be rented.

Seventy-nine years after 1947, Pakistan’s problem is not that it lacks the legal furniture of independence. It has borders, embassies, nuclear weapons and an anthem thunderous enough to frighten colonialism retroactively. Its problem is that the ruling order has repeatedly treated sovereignty not as power to be exercised, but as an asset to be rented.

The British departed. Dependency merely changed accents.

SEATO, CENTO, Afghan jihad, the War on Terror: Pakistan discovered early that geography could be monetized more easily than industry could be built. Thus emerged the governing genius of the postcolonial state: sell strategic usefulness abroad, manufacture patriotic mythology at home, and call the difference national interest.

Washington supplied weapons. Gulf monarchies supplied deposits and patronage. China supplied infrastructure and strategic ballast. The........

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