Going smart

Providing protection from threats emanating from within and without is the core obligation of a state.

Today, the people in Pakistan are concerned more about security in their daily lives from poverty, indignity, hunger, disease, illiteracy, social exclusion, political alienation, religious persecution, economic injustice, environmental degradation and natural catastrophes than the safety from external threats. The rise of social movements, the growing dissent and human insecurities in Pakistan, are illustrative of the altered threat spectrum to be tackled by the state. The unholy trinity of human insecurity, human underdevelopment and human rights abuse has created internal contradictions and convulsions undercutting the state’s integrity and sovereignty. The response has been short-sighted and traditional in terms of the conceptual mindset and policy measures.

Our concept of security is entirely based on the 19th century idea of territorial security and hard power as the conceptual lens and operational instrument. To counter the non-military internal threats is clearly outside the narrow scope of state-centric security paradigm. Therefore, the way the state has been responding to internal challenges, should not surprise us because a security state is genetically programmed to act this way. The skewed idea of national security is inextricably linked to the use of hard power whose accumulation necessities diversion of monetary and material resources away from economic development, human development and human security in a country.

The preoccupation with state security makes the state a victim to the perennial security paranoia through which the state views even peaceful protestors and dissenters as a foreign threat. If all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail" aptly captures the situation. State oppression leads to social unrest and political alienation of the citizenry that begins to challenge arbitrary and violent behavior of the state within its own geographic boundaries. In response, a security state responds with greater reliance on force.

Worse, it is structurally incapable of adopting a soft approach to address the growing non-traditional challenges – the fallout of state-centric security approach. In addition, the elite in such a state develop symbiotic relationship with a state-centric security paradigm, and the symbiosis engenders vested interests in the status-quo as it sustains power and a vast ecosystem of perks and privileges. So, dissent and deviation from the state narrative is labeled sedition and ruthlessly crushed because it challenges the predatory and exploitative status-quo and its beneficiaries who also have political and economic stakes. Naturally, such a system assumes more importance for the state security elite than the state itself.

Now, the question arises as to what the alternative to the state-security approach is for Pakistan to adopt. The answer lies in the new approach I hereby propose to be considered. The fresh security approach is the fusion of state-security and human security. It may be termed as Smart Security Concept (SSC) that affords an innovative conceptual perspective and policy choices to the Pakistani policy planners. The SSC is integrative and holistic in terms of scope, stakeholders and strategies. The SSC is based on the following fundamentals:

First, the concept creates complementarity between state security and human security. The framework stresses the protection of integrity and sovereignty of the individual along with security for integrity and sovereignty of the state that eventually collapses if populace is alienated from state. The approach encompasses not only inter-state conflict but also intra-state conflict. Second, the state needs to rediscover and reestablish its organic bond with its citizenry. The relationship between state and citizen is rational contingent upon fulfillment of the former’s role as the provider of fundamental human needs and freedoms enshrined in the constitution.

Third, the smart security approach instrumentalizes the soft approach based on dialogue and engagement for internal conflict resolution rather than hard approach in form of arrests, incarceration, character assassination, enforced disappearance, elimination, draconian laws, media trials, social media trolling and curtailment of human rights. Fourth, given Pakistan’s precarious regional security milieu, the SSC provides space for sustainable security policies based on economic strength, proactive diplomacy and minimum military deterrence. Fifth, economic development is key to economic robustness that, in turn, is an effective foreign policy instrument in the era of geo-economy.

So, our strategic planners need to break out of the shell of the cold-war era security paradigm. Needless to say, economic vitality shields against loss of economic sovereignty and the resultant economic blackmail by other states.

Human development, humane government, political, social, economic emancipation, empowerment and inclusion, democratization, institution-building and national integration are vital means to materialize the SSC. If history is any guide, security-obsessed states are disaster-prone. The mighty USSR and Sparta – the formidable war machine of antiquity – are classic examples.

Similarly, if the Pakistani state failed to prioritize and ensure freedom from want, fear and indignity, then the growing climatic calamities, mis-governance, a ballooning population and an ailing economy would continue to push us towards failure.

The writer is a freelance contributor.

Email: mahar.munawar2017@outlook. com

Twitter: @MunawarMahar