Taking security seriously: Security for whom, from what, why, and how
by Adil Najam, USA
Conventional wisdom holds that security is something that states worry about and state security is the only security worth worrying about. However, we live in unconventional times and what has held as conventional wisdom has proved to be less than wise. This presentation will focus on broadening the conceptual understanding of security and posit the view that 'human security' is not only a different way to look at security questions but it may, in fact, be a better way to put real meaning into 'state security'. It will argue that human insecurity is fast becoming THE major threat to state security in many (if not most) parts of the world, including in South Asia. Using the India-Pakistan relationship as an example, it will argue that (a) the insecurities of the two countries are far more profound at the human level than the state level and (b) that state as well as inter-state insecurities are likely to be dealt with much better through tacking the human dimensions of insecurity than the military dimensions.
Human security issues refined: The Ant’s view
by Prof. Dr. Najma Najam, Pakistan
Emile Durkheim’s view that social disorganization leads to personal disorganization was never so true as it is now. Societies and citizens the world over have been overshadowed and threatened with insecurity and Pakistan is no exception. The safe havens of work, worship, and even education are safe no more. Homes and the streets are vulnerable as are playgrounds. The psychological dynamics of depression, learned helplessness and apathy are seen everywhere. Increase in violence, aggression and rage, frustration are exhibited in the absence of tolerance for differences of opinion, religion, caste, creed and gender. As a society, Pakistanis seem to have lost healthy societal and cultural values and systems for catharsis. Implications for future would be discussed in the light of social psychological theories.
Streamlining the Indo-Pak negotiation agenda
by Moeed Yusuf, Pakistan
The Kashmir dispute is believed to be one of the main reasons for the troubled Indo-Pak relationship since 1947. While efforts to settle the issue have spanned the entire length of the dispute, no breakthrough has been achieved. This paper will attempt to narrow the negotiation agenda on Kashmir by pointing out the necessary components of a sustainable solution. This exercise is deemed to be timely as the ongoing Pakistan-India talks on Kashmir could be facilitated by streamlining the negotiation agenda. The paper makes an inventory of all major proposals on Kashmir forwarded by various quarters since 1947. The common elements of these proposals will be identified and expected reactions from the major stakeholders on the common aspects evaluated. The result will highlight the narrow spectrum of possibilities where the actual solution may lie and where the focus of negotiations ought to be. All possibilities which are either unrealistic or unsustainable will be eliminated.
Small Arms Proliferation & Narcotics in India's Northeast
by Binalakshmi Nepram, India
Global interest in the possession, proliferation and misuse of illegal small arms and light weapons (SALW) has grown exponentially over the last decade. The UN Special Conference in 2002 confirmed the level of international concern and commitment to action. Numerous non-governmental organizations are now engaged in either persuading or assisting national governments in the worst affected states to establish plans of action to address SALW issues. These range from ensuring better stockpile controls within the security forces to the creation of national commissions to work across government departments and the security forces to address issues relating to control, decommissioning and destruction.
The North East states of India are rapidly emerging as a major area of insecurity and violence. Over 72 armed rebel groups operate in the region, which is home to over 220 tribes and communities. About 55 types of small arms and light weapons have flooded the region, whose origins have been traced to as many as 9 countries. Insurgency groups are active across the region and New Delhi is finding it increasingly difficult to maintain law and order. The borders with Bangladesh and Myanmar are porous. Ever since independence, refugees, drugs and weapons have crossed into the North East, all of which have contributed to a declining security environment. In particular, there is an increasing concern that the movement of illegal weapons must be addressed. The weapons available are not especially sophisticated but are adequate enough to threaten law and order and human security in a major way.
The paper proposes to develop inter-related approaches to armed conflict, narcotics and small arms proliferation in India’s Northeast. It will also look at how ethnic groups arm themselves and the various routes which are used to for trafficking small arms into the Northeast Indian region. This is combined with the high prevalence of narcotic abuse and trafficking, resulting in a high rate of HIV AIDS prevalence. The paper will also look into the role of civil society and women’s groups in the region to address the issue. It will also look at the various peace processes that are going on to resolve the five-decade-old armed insurgency in one of India’s most sensitive areas.
The Evolution of Pakistan’s Security Issues
by Ejaz Haider, Pakistan
Since the first Kashmir War of 1947-48, Pakistan has viewed India as its primary security threat, serving as the basis for the evolution of Islamabad’s security culture. The conflict between the two countries has become a zero-sum game. For this and other reasons of internal structural imbalances, Pakistan has been unable to develop into a peaceful, politically balanced state. While the threat from India is real, over the years internal contradictions have become bigger threats to Pakistan’s security and many of these contradictions, while they have been exacerbated by the conflict with India, are owed to structural imbalances within. Contiguous borders, shared history, India’s ambitions within and beyond the region, and its poor record of dealing with its smaller neighbours all feed Pakistani leaders’ fears.
Today, however, the primary threats to Pakistan’s security and existence as a viable state emanate less from its larger neighbour. Rather, a confluence of domestic pressures and numerous internal contradictions that have come to characterise the Pakistani state pose greater threat to contemporary Pakistani security.
These contradictions are collectively produced by an interactive dynamic between the country’s perceived external security threat and its historical failure to achieve national consensus on the nature of the state as well as basic issues of governance. As various players have competed to carve out roles for religion and the military in the foreground of the Pakistani state, the establishment of functional political institutions has largely been left behind, creating potentially destabilising imbalances. Pakistan’s lack of a balanced, institutionalised political system has, in turn, limited its dealings with India to military relations and responses. The paranoia about India, generated by traditional security thinking, has negatively reinforced the process of state formation in Pakistan by empowering the military and allowing it to define not only the ideological parameters of the state but also formulating policies that have negatively impacted the country’s overall development as a normal state.
It is with this perspective that I propose to look at the issue of security threats to Pakistan.
View Abstracts
