Abstracts
Theme: Peace and People’s Rights
Panel: Human Security Issues in South Asia-Concept and Realties
 Trans-boundary Waters in Jammu & Kashmir: Human Security in a Wider Context
Asma Yaqoob*
Abstract
Security incorporates humanitarian development. Human security is not about states and nations, but about individuals and people, the environment in which they live and the resources that they use. Human security is inextricably linked to economic and social development as well as good governance. The concepts of environmental security and sustainable development have become essential parts of a comprehensive security. The protracted militancy in Jammu and Kashmir (J & K) has undermined human security by reducing access to, and the quality of, natural resources that are important to sustain people’s livelihoods. Hydropower is the most important and the only source of agricultural and industrial development in the State. Significant losses have been reported in the economic development of the State of J & K due to the non-availability of water for power generation. Two important factors include: 1) From the Kashmiris’ perspective, the Indus Waters Treaty is responsible for the massive untapped hydropower resources of the State by limiting its ability to build storage reservoirs on the River Jhelum and the Chenab. 2) The State receives a small amount of royalty for all the hydropower projects funded by the Central Government. Many in the State believe that the existing power projects are sufficient enough to meet their energy needs if they get back the centrally controlled power projects.
Once harnessed, the water resources of the Jammu and Kashmir region have enough potential to provide sustainable development to the people suffering from armed hostility between India and Pakistan. The development of the State’s water resources is possible by reinterpreting rather than renegotiating the Indus Waters Treaty of 1960 that distributed the Indus river system between India and Pakistan. The present study seeks to delineate that the quality of human resource has suffered a significant decline since the beginning of the insurgency in the State. By doing so, it will draw upon research and writing towards the interrelationship of peace and human security in the poverty ridden but heavily militarized region of the world. The study will explore the imperative role South Asian states have to play in the security and well being of their people.
*Asma Yaqoob is working as a Research Scholar at the Institute of Regional Studies, Islamabad, Pakistan. Her area of specialization is South Asia with a focus on issues of human security, peace and conflict in the region.
Socio-political Unrest and Vulnerable Human Security in Balochistan
Nizamuddin Nizamani*
Abstract
Pakistan’s largest and strategically most important province Balochistan remains conflict ridden since its very accession with Pakistan in March 1948 and has been constantly simmering underneath with continual insurgency since then. The subversive and gorilla activities are seldom reported by the media. Agitations, demonstration, bomb blasts, ambush on government convoys, and subversive activities around the mega development projects and installations like Gawadar Deep Seaport, Mirani Dam, airports and major gas pipelines in both smaller and bigger towns are a routine.
Media reports that the law-enforcing agencies and the militants regularly attack each other but unfortunately causalities are mostly innocent civilians in the cross fire. Innocent civilians in hundreds have reportedly died or have been crippled by either the bombs or artillery fires by the paramilitary forces. Sixty women and children have been killed bny mortar fires alone in Dera Bugti in March 2005, which represents just the tip of the iceberg.
The nationalists and mainstream politicians classify the subversive activities as the natural reaction to the historical deprivation and victimization of the native people. The nationalists claim that thousands of Baloch youth and the political activists are missing, either kidnapped or arrested by the secret intelligence agencies or the FC. They blame that dozens have been tortured to death or paralyzed. However most of these facts have not been reported by the national press.
Balochistan also received and sustained the second largest number of Afghan refugees, and is alleged to have been the breeding ground for the recruitment of global terrorist organizations.
Situation in neighboring countries Iran and Afghanistan also depend upon the security issues in Balochistan as both these countries share porous borders with the province. Therefore, unrest in Balochistan makes Pakistan vulnerable and requires the attention of the strategists. The proposed multi-billion mega projects will go down the drain if sociopolitical unrest and instability prevails in Balochistan. Situation looks enigmatic, heading nowhere but to confrontation. The focus on human security issues in Balochistan is indispensable to address the overall human security in South Asia.
This study aims to highlight the ground realities and recommend plausible solutions to improve human security in Balochistan. It will also submit recommendations to the Federal Government and other stakeholders to adapt empathetic and pragmatic approach to avoid confrontation and take various steps to resolve the dispute.
* Nizamuddin Nizamani is a trainer, writer and social researcher. He has been engaged with voluntary social services since 1990. He has worked with the National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) and the NBP Staff College Karachi.
State and Human Security in South Asia: Political Economy of Governance
Abdur Rob Khan*
Abstract
Human security is possibly the latest in a long line of security paradigms – realist paradigm of security, collective security, common security, cooperative security and comprehensive security. Human security is conceptualized within the broad framework of non-traditional security (NTS), a case Ford Foundation has been pursuing since the late 1990s. Interesting discourses along the UNDP formulation of human security as freedom from want as well as the Canadian formulation of freedom from fear, and many other variants based on either or mix of the above, are being carried out. However, by way of de-emphasizing state centric security, the balance of the discourse remains tilted toward non-state dimensions. A critical aspect of human security, e.g. the role of state, remains under-explored. First, as a knee-jerk reaction to state centricity, the tendency becomes one of avoiding or averting the state related issues and focus more on non-state actors and issues. Secondly, even if the role of the state is recognized, the depth is not delved into, as to why the state behaves in a particular way as far as human security is concerned. The role of the state immediately brings into fore the question of governance. The purpose of the proposed presentation will be to deal with the political economy of governance basically to argue that both the fear and want dimensions of human security are inextricably linked.
Governance is a much talked about topic among the donor communities, national, regional and international civil societies. Despite so much of public opinion and donor pressures, governance in most of the South Asian countries has been carried to the extreme negative end, breaking all norms and taboos. An understanding of the political economy of recent trends in governance is needed in a bid to understand the deteriorating human insecurity situation in the South Asian societies.
*Dr. Abdur Rob Khan is Research Director and head of Non-traditional Security (NTS) Studies, Bangladesh Institute of International and Strategic Studies (BIISS), Dhaka.
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