Rethinking security in post 9/11 Pakistan : arguing for human security

Historically, Pakistan has held a realist oriented security approach that has focused on building up military power and has been led by four military dictators which hampers a democracy to fully flourish. Pakistan´s prime minister Nawaz Sharif is, who marked a historic democratic transition when he came to power, is currently witnessing a domestic crisis as caused by the myriad of militant organisations that operate on sectarian lines. The one-yearold National Action Plan developed to counter terror has given the armed forces more power, which concerns human rights activists. Few will contend that the rising number of nontraditional security threats demanded a more broader and wider security definition that went beyond state security and perceived the individual as the referent object of security. Human security has, since its inception in 1994 gained ground in security studies, as well as in the policy community. The concept has been divided between two camps; “freedom from fear” – that encompasses freedom from physical political violence, whilst “freedom from want” deals with much broader issues as poverty and unemployment. I apply both of these in my case study of Pakistan. Thus, this thesis acknowledges the changing nature of security, and finds the incorporation of a comprehensive human security framework, as much needed Pakistan supplement to traditional security. In so doing, the research is based on a combination of desk studies and a field trip to Pakistan. Twenty interviews have been conducted, five in each city - Abbottabad, Islamabad, Lahore and Rawalpindi, where male above 30 years in the workforce have been randomly interviewed about how they perceive their own security and what their security needs are. The main findings of this research highlight the security needs of the Pakistani people as the call for human security, democracy, rule of law, and justice. They have expressed grave concern, nepotism and distrust of both the civilian and insufficient engagement in addressing their individual security needs. This is leading to less political will in the population, which is not fruitful for democracy to flourish. In some cases, military rule is more favoured because it provides better results than democratic elected governments. Additionally, the informants identified and recognised several dimensions of human security and Islamic values as pivotal for their security and expressed the absence of trust to their government institutions and nepo