I agree that India has many more areas of poor governance than Pakistan does, but that is not the whole story and Anatol Lieven (in his desire to be "fair and balanced") misses the point. The problem with Pakistan is not that some areas are under control of an Islamist insurgency. The tribal areas could form an independent republic and have minimal effect on the rest of the country. And Indian governance is far more rickety than the ISI's hold on Pakistan.
The problem is not governance (though that is a problem), the problem in Pakistan is that the "deep state" (for lack of a better word) is wedded to a mode of existence and an ideology that is dangerous while its failing and that becomes more dangerous if it becomes more successful. IF India becomes more like its advertised ideals (no country is exactly like its ideals, so we are talking about real life here) it will be a better country for its own people and for the world (a democratic, secular, progressive nation). On the other hand, IF Pakistan manages to pull away from its (admittedly confused and contradictory) ideals, it will be a successful rising Asian nation. That is a big difference.
A "successful" Pakistan that has not changed course would be a regional and international disaster. A "successful" India would be a pain in the butt in terms of arrogant public posturing, but it would be a "normal" country, with a kleptocratic ruling elite, lots of corruption, many small insurgencies and a security apparatus to match and more money than it has now. At most, it would start bullying small neighbors about old disputes and small neighbors would have to find patrons across the seas to withstand said bullying.
Western observers tend to fall into two groups: those who have an existing irrational (or rational, if you think Israel's zero-sum game with the Arabs is "rational") animus against Muslims and Arabs and will believe the worst about Pakistan no matter what. And a much larger group of sane people who are unable to imagine that serious policymakers somewhere might actually regard the paknationalist BS as more than "just propaganda". The eye cannot see what the mind does not know.
and so on.