Pakistan And The Non-Traditional Security Threats

The dawn of the 21st century marked the entry of

Pakistan into the global war on terror after the 9/11
attacks. Pakistan allied with the US to fight the non-
traditional threat of terrorism and paid a heavy price of 80
thousand lives and 67 billion dollars. However, the story
does not end here, due to its geopolitical location and
flawed policies and scarcity of vision, Pakistan is facing
numerous non-traditional security threats that are far more
challenging than traditional ones.

In recent times due to political polarization, Pakistan's

economy is in a tailspin. The IMF programme is stalled
and foreign reserves have reached the lowest level in
history. In this scenario, due to scarcity of dollars
government launched import restrictions that closed gates
for import of critical equipment and machinery for
factories to run. Resultantly, several factories are either
closed or are working at half capacity. This gives rise to
an unemployment boom. According to IMF, in Pakistan
unemployment rose to 7% in April 2023. This creates a
huge gap between the state and citizens. People see
political parties locking horns with each other while they
cry for a piece of bread and strive for hefty utility bills
and educational expenses. This gap created by economic
insecurity is either exploited by terror outfits for
employing those graduates or individuals themselves
indulge in unlawful activities like robbery and theft of
which Karachi is a prime example. This explains that
economic insecurity led by political polarization is
directly giving rise to internal security threats to Pakistan.

Pakistan was formed in the name of Islam. Unfortunately,

religion has been the foremost thing is used to brand
"others" as un-Islamic. During the previous a few months,
there had been seen a sharp rise in tagging political
opponents ''blasphemous'' for political gains . Not only on
politicians but also citizens find it easier to brand other
muslims and non-muslims as blasphemous. For example,
Sri Lankan citizens in Sialkot met an unfortunate end. The
same could have happened to Chinese engineer working
at Dasu Dam but law enforcement agencies took him
under protection. In all this scenario, none from the world
with expertise would want to come to Pakistan to
contribute to its economic recovery. This not only impacts
economic security but dents Pakistan’s soft image in the
world as a nation hard on foreigners and religiously
intolerant.
Pakistan has become the fifth largest population in the
world. It has a 64% youth bulge. However, Pakistan has
been unsuccessful in morphing the population into an
asset instead of a liability. A large share of the population
has a degree but no skill. Those who have skills have no
jobs. And those who have jobs have less income and a
non-conducive working environment. This is leading to
brain drain. According to reports more than .7 million
Pakistanis left for foreign in 2022. This portrays that the
unemployed population is not only eating up resources
but also a chunk of it is leaving the country in despair.
This pictures the grim reality of poor human resources
management by government that is inducing resentment
among masses.

The climate crisis is staring in the eyes of Pakistan. It is

the 8th hardest hit country from it. Scorching heat in
summer is drying up lakes and rivers which in turn is
hitting agriculture. Floods are causing not only the
destruction of buildings but also the hopes of farmers.
According to the climate ministry Pakistan bears the loss
of $ 30 Billion due to recent floods which is an extra
burden on the already dried-up treasury of Pakistan.
Lahore has become the the most polluted city of the world
that is causing many health problems like asthma, strokes,
heart and eye diseases. People in Thatta are migrating to
other areas due to sea intrusion. This means that climate
crisis has not only bringing financial crisis in Pakistan but
also impacting ‘Human Security’ by impacting their
health and causing them to migrate.
Food security is measured in terms of availability,
accessibility, and affordability. In all these terms Pakistan
is food insecure. First of all, Pakistan has become a net
food importer even when Pakistan is called an agricultural
country. If Pakistan would not import food, its citizen
would not have food available on their tables. For
accessibility, Pakistan is lacking infrastructure and
mechanisms for citizens to have access to quality food.
28% children are underweight and four out of ten are
stunted.
In terms of affordability, Pakistan's performance is
lacking as its inflation outpaces inflation in Sri Lanka.
According to the Global Hunger Index Pakistan stands at
the 99th position out of 121 countries. In all this gloom
and doom, the human resource of Pakistan would be
unable to produce healthy minds and bodies. They would
be unable to compete with other competitors in the
outside world. Their fragile bodily health would put an
extra burden on medical infrastructure that is already
fragile. All this give rise to not only internal conflicts on
meager food resources but also compromise the
production of useful human resource.

Water is the lifeline of Pakistan as of any other country.

Due to the climate crisis glaciers are melting at a faster
rate. Pakistan has not built a large dam since 1976. This
fact coupled with the water-mongering of Modi threatens
Pakistan’s water security. He warned that blood and water
cannot flow together. India's recent threatening attitude to
the Indus Water Treaty puts Pakistan in a difficult
position as Pakistan's 37.2% labour force is engaged with
agriculture. According to reports Pakistan would run dry
in 2025. All this makes not only Pakistan's water security
vulnerable but also puts the employment of millions of
agriculturalists in uncertainty.
Summing up the debate, it can be said that along with
traditional security threats, non-traditional security threats
place Pakistan in a difficult position. Amidst political
polarization, economic tailspining , and the widening gap
between state and citizens give space to external forces to
exploit fault lines that weaken the social fabric of
Pakistan. There is a need to fix the economy, reduce
political polarization and curb religious intolerance.
Moreover, the government must focus on building hydro
infrastructure and tackling food insecurity that is
compromising the lives of millions of Pakistanis.