Safia Mansoor and Dr Asia Mukhtar NDU Journal 2021

EMERGING DIMENSIONS OF NON-TRADITIONAL

SECURITY: HUMAN SECURITY IN PAKISTAN

• Introduction to emerging security threats and Global War

on Terrorism (GWOT)
→ After the end of cold war, security has acquired new facets including, Galloping
globalization, Environmental issues, International terrorism
→ Non-traditional security considers the threats emanating from non-military sources
→ Consequent to the 9/11 attacks, Global War on Terrorism (GWOT) was launched
→ Pakistan decided to join it due to the international community’s call and geo-strategic
imperatives
→ Pakistan never focused on the non-traditional threats and its human security concerns
remained neglected
→ After 9/11, the fallout of GWOT affected Pakistan’s stability, and cornered human
security

Diversion
towards
GWOT at its
western
border

Scourge of
Negligence of terrorism
policymakers inside the
state
Factors
strengthening Non-
traditional security
threats

Grim socio-
Bad
political
governance
situation

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Terrorism

Energy Environmental
insecurity degradation

Current non-
traditional
threats to
pakistan Water
Youth bulge
scarcity

Population Food
explosion insecurity,

• Sections covered in this paper:

1. Traditional and non-traditional security paradigm
2. Significance of non-traditional security threats after the event of 9/11
3. Intrinsic link between human security and non-traditional security threats
4. Human security profile of Pakistan through the prism of non-traditional security
challenges facing Pakistan in post 9/11 era
5. Human security approach to counter non-traditional security threats

• Definition of security and the difference between

Traditional and Non-traditional security
→ Security implies the freedom from vulnerabilities and threats, real or putative,
originating from an anarchic international system
→ Subject of security was constructed through the lens of Realism during the Cold War
era
→ Traditional security paradigm emphasizes the protection of a state and accents the role
of military power
→ Security threats arise primarily out of external sources in the context of tradition
security
→ The end of the Cold War marked the emergence of new threats known as non-traditional
security threats as enlisted below:
 Ethnic confrontations

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 Intra-state conflicts
 Forced displacement
 Terrorism
 HIV/AIDS
 Extreme poverty
 Environmental degradation

→ No-traditional threats are closely connected, borderless and potentially crippling for the
societies

• Richard H. Ullman’s view of the Traditional and Non-

traditional security
→ He considered national security merely in military terms as doubly misleading because
of the following two reasons:
 It ignores the threats emanating from non-military sources
 It surmises that threats cropping up from state’s outside sources are more perilous
to its security than hazards that emanate within it

→ He said that a threat to the national security is an action or sequence of events that
dramatically jeopardizes
→ Over a short time duration to deteriorate the quality of life for the state’s inhabitants,
he added
→ It also gravely threatens to circumscribe the policy options to the government, non-
governmental and private entities within a state

• Mely Caballero-Anthony’s definition of the Non-Traditional

security:
→ Non-traditional security threats are those threats which fundamentally emanate from
non-military sources which includes:
 Climate change
 Cross-border environmental degradation
 Depletion of resources
 Food shortages
 Natural disasters
 Infectious diseases
 Irregular migration
 Drug trafficking
 People smuggling
 Transnational crime posing challenges to the survival
 Well-being of humans as well as states

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• Six distinct characteristics of Non-traditional threats:

→ Non-traditional security threats have a transnational character extrapolated apropos of
their genesis, conceptions, and consequences
→ They are delineated in socio-economic and political terms
→ Non-traditional threats beget political and societal instability and eventually become
security threat
→ The effects of these threats are arduous to revert or repair
→ Non-traditional security threats require multilateral and regional cooperation due to the
inadequacy of national solutions
→ Non-traditional security threats are perilous for people (either individuals or societies)
and states (sovereignty and territory)

• Assumptions about non-traditional security threats:

→ Food shortages, infectious diseases, and illegal migration directly threaten the well-
being and survival of peoples and states due to processes of globalization
→ The new face of these threats incapacitates the states to unilaterally solve the problems,
necessitating multilateral cooperation

• Non-Traditional Security Elements in the Post 9/11 Era

→ These threats were not fully recognized as a global security concern until the 9/11
terrorist attacks on the World Trade Centre and Pentagon
→ Before 9/11, the soft security concerns were rebuffed and refuted, and considered as
third-world problems
→ Terrorism was catapulted to the world affair’s centre stage due to the 9/11 event
→ It once again highlighted key limitations of the traditional or hard security paradigm in
tackling terrorism

• Non-Traditional Security Threats-Human Security Nexus

→ The 1994 Human Development Report (HDR) loosely defined human security as
freedom from fear and want
→ Human security can be explicitly defined as protection from chronic threats such as:
 Disease
 Hunger and repression
 And safety from hurtful
 Sudden disruptions in daily life

→ The four assumptions which characterize human security are given below:
 Protection of fundamental freedom which constitutes the essence of life
 Protection of people from pervasive and critical situations and threats
 Use of processes that build on strengths and aspirations of people

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 Creating social, political, economic, environmental, cultural, and military systems

that through integration provide humans with the building blocks for existence,
livelihood, and dignity

• Components of Human Security and Threats to Human

Security’s Components
Components of Human Essentials of Respective Threats Causing Insecurity
Components
Security
Economic Security Assured basic income, employment, Unemployment, poverty
access to social safety net
Food Security Physical, economic and social access Lack of access to sufficient and
to food supply, basic nutrition nutritious food supply, famine,
hunger
Health Security Access to basic health services, Lack of access to basic health
protection from unhealthy lifestyles services, diseases, malnutrition,
and diseases unsafe food
Environmental Security Protection against environmental Environmental degradation
degradation, safety of masses from (Pollution, natural disasters, depletion
environmental dangers caused by of resources such as water, oil,
human or natural process natural gas)
Personal Security Protection of civil liberties and Physical violence, human rights
human rights, protection from violation
physical violence of state as well as
other entities
Community Security Protection of community identity and Ethnic violence, discrimination, harsh
ethnic groups, conservation of treatment, oppressive traditional
cultures and traditions, protection practices
from harsh practices and
discrimination against indigenous and
ethnic groups
Political Security Protection from political repression, Ill-treatment, political repression,
mistreatment, torture and abduction, systematic torture, human rights
abolishment of systematic ill-
treatment, political detention and
imprisonment
Source: Janusz Gierszewski, Personal Security within the Human Security

• Mapping Contours of Human Security in Pakistan

→ Since 1947, Pakistan faced territorial integrity and national sovereignty threats
particularly from India
→ Including Kashmir dispute, East Pakistan separation and support of India in fuelling
secessionism in Balochistan, turbulent relations with Afghanistan, and fears pertaining
to rising Indian influence in Afghanistan

• Threat of Terrorism in Pakistan

→ 9/11 attacks further deteriorated Pakistan’s already grim situation of human security

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→ Pakistan became the frontline state of GWOT, to provide logistical support and ensure
supply’s route safety through the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to the International Security
Assistance Force (ISAF)
→ 9/11 and the resultant war on terror have aggravated traditional security parameters as
well as non-traditional security concerns of Pakistan
→ Humongous human capital loss from 2003 to 2016 due to terrorist attacks in Pakistan
includes the deaths of 6660 security forces and 21,485 civilians
→ Pakistan has faced the direct and indirect economic cost of almost $126.79 billion
→ Pakistan army carried out military operations such as Zarb-e-Azb and Radd-ul-Fasaad
to eliminate the terrorist outfits
→ National Action Plan (NAP) began in 2014 to fetter the scourge of terrorism
→ Pakistan ranked 154 out of 189 on the 2020 Human Development Index

• Environmental Degradation and Climate Change in Pakistan:

→ Pakistan has been ranked as the world’s second most polluted country with PM2.5
reading of 74.3 microgram per cubic metre (μg/m³) exceeding the maximum criteria of
10 microgram per cubic metre
→ Quality of underground water and freshwater bodies are deteriorating rapidly due to
sewage discharge into supplies of water
→ Pakistan is the 5th most vulnerable state to climate change according to the 2020 Global
Climate Risk Index
→ The annual mean temperature has increased by 0.5°C in the last 50 years which is
expected to rise by 3°C to 5°C by the end of the 21st century
→ Receding glaciers of the Himalayas, rapid increase in variability of monsoons,
reduction of hydropower during years of drought, hydrological reserves shrinkage, and
extreme events such as droughts and floods
→ 80% of the country’s exports are agro-based
→ Northern snowfall and Himalayan glaciers which are melting rapidly supply water for
two-third of Pakistan’s irrigable land
→ the coastal cities of Sindh, Thatta, and Badin would drown by 2050
→ Karachi would drown by 2026 due to sea level risings if the sea erosion in coastlines
and Indus Delta continue unbridled

• Water Scarcity and it’s possible consequences in Pakistan

→ Pakistan Council of Research in Water Resources (PCRWR) has warned of an absolute
water scarcity in Pakistan by 2025
→ Pakistan’s average water potential is 236 BCM (Billion Cubic Meter) while
consumption is around 160 BCM
→ Rise in population means that by 2025, projected water demand in Pakistan could be
337.9 BCM

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→ Water availability has decreased from 1500 cubic meters per annum to 1017 cubic
meters per annum
→ Pakistan’s irrigation system consumes 93 % of total available water whereas loses up
to 60% of irrigation water during transportation and application in fields
→ Water scarcity in Pakistan would cause more food insecurity as it will bar food
production
→ Provinces and people will fight for this scarce natural resource

• Food Insecurity in Pakistan and falling figures in this context:

→ Food security and meeting the nutrition targets of SDG-2 by 2030 is a major challenge
that is being faced by Pakistan
→ Prevalence of Undernourishment (PoU) in the country is 20.3% after declining from
25.8% in 2001-2003
→ Number of hungry individuals is rising with rising population growth rate of 2.4%,
natural disasters, poverty, economic downturns, and slowdowns
→ According to the 2018 National Nutrition survey, wasting among children is at 17.7 %,
stunning is at 40.2%, and underweight at 28.9%
→ 2019 Global Food Security Index (GFSI) has placed Pakistan at 78th position amongst
113 states
→ After a few decades 40% reduction of river flows in the Indus basin is expected
→ The dry conditions because of 45% average rainfall shortage in Pakistan since 2018 and
affected Kharif crops-Sugar cane, rice, maize, and millet
→ Food insecurity is market dependency for getting food for masses that are insecure in
urban and rural district
→ food security is crucial for the national security of Pakistan as it can make society
insecure, cause grievances, and initiate civil conflict

• Population Explosion as a threat to national security of

Pakistan:
→ Pakistan is the 5th most populous country in the world with population of 220.1 million
→ According to the UN, there is a six-fold increase in Pakistan’s population between 1950
and 2020
→ Population growth rate in Pakistan stands at 2.8 % which implies that 3.6 million people
will be born every year
→ Massive population growth has already been eroding modest socio-economic
development gains
→ Substantial proportion of natural resources of the country are consumed due to
ballooning population
→ Population explosion is a threat to the national security of Pakistan as high population
growth is a critical destabilizing factor

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→ 80% of 1970s civil conflicts in the world took place in those states with a fast-growing
young population
→ Youth constitutes 63% of the total population of Pakistan
→ It is a serious threat to human security in Pakistan and can be disastrous for the internal
stability of the state

• Energy Crisis in Pakistan and its effects on industries and

domestic users:
→ Pakistan’s current capacity is 22,000MW (Megawatt), while the consumer demand is
25,000MW, with an energy deficit of about 3,000MW
→ This demand is expected to increase by 500MW in the upcoming years in agriculture,
construction, manufacturing and education
→ Power shortages in Pakistan are 58.4% thermal, 30.9% hydropower, 8.2 % nuclear and
2.4% renewable energy
→ A string of energy challenges has led to profoundly negative impacts on people’s
normal lives
→ Shortage of energy is hobbling the state’s industry and has led to the closure of many
industries

• Integrating UN’s Human Security Approach to Counter Non-

Traditional Security Threats to Pakistan
 Pakistan can integrate and implement the following Axioms of Human Security to
curb or adapt to the lethal non-traditional security threats:
 People-centered
 Comprehensive
 Coherence
 Contextualization
 Partnership & Collaboration
 Emphasis on Prevention
 Greater Resilience & Sustainability
 Bench-marking, Evaluation & Assessment

• Suggestions to overcome the ongoing security threat:

→ It is prime time to address challenges/hazards or crisis situations for the non-traditional
security elements
→ Besides securing its border, a human security approach must be adopted by Pakistan
→ A shift in the security paradigm has now become the last resort to ensure the existence
of mankind and the state of Pakistan