Challenges to Pakistan’s Security

The South Asian region has always been under the influence of extra-regional powers. The interplay of their strategic and economic interests considerably marred bilateral relations between states in South Asia, particularly Pakistan and India.

The international security scenario has long been under transformation due to major shifts in political, economic and strategic interests of states. In a contemporary era, incidents of 9/11 resulted in drastic changes in the security-related perceptions, concerns, policies and mechanisms of states across the globe. Among other regions, the South Asian security scenario has also undergone major changes during the last decade. In Pakistan, the internal security issues rose to a dangerous level and, hence, assumed greater prominence than external security threats.

The South Asian region has always been under the influence of extra-regional powers. The interplay of their strategic and economic interests considerably marred bilateral relations between states in South Asia, particularly Pakistan and India, hence posing challenges to regional security. At the regional level, taking conventional (external) security threats to Pakistan into consideration, its eastern neighbour India has long been regarded as a potential threat in view of the critical equation the two countries have experienced during the past six decades. And Pakistan’s western border remains porous and vulnerable to violence.

A certain level of deterrence has been maintained with India. However, with the changing regional security scenario, especially in wake of war against terrorism in Afghanistan, the Pakistan-India equation turned even more severe increasing the vulnerability of the deterrence. Despite the composite dialogue and other peace overtures, a number of territorial and other issues remain unsettled between the two countries that continue to pose threats to security. Moreover, there is always a possibility of conflict escalation in the wake of periodic firing incidents across the Line of Control (LoC).

Considering internal security threats; perceptions and understanding on the ‘most grievous’ of the existing threats differ among different security and strategic analysts. The existing internal security threats may include sectarian violence, ethnic divide (including movements in Balochistan), small arms proliferation and above all terrorism. The opinion of a number of political analysts varies with regard to which problem is the most serious and which should be addressed first. Pakistan is a pluralistic society; however, internal problems and external influences wrecked the very fabric of its society. As Pakistan faces the severe fallout of the war against terrorism in its western neighbour, its internal security deteriorates gradually.

The legacy of partition, economic and political instability, fragile democracy, feudal trends, corruption, illiteracy, unemployment, radicalization and polarization of Pakistani society, extremism and intolerance may be regarded as the root-causes of internal security problems; the external factors considerably manipulated the internal problems of Pakistan. As a consequence, the internal security situation is extremely fragile as Pakistan faces grave internal security threats, especially terrorism. There has been an unprecedented increase in terror incidents in Pakistan during the last decade, which in turn posed multifaceted challenges to the counterterrorism strategy.

The US-led war against terrorism in Afghanistan deteriorated regional security. Pakistan now faces another challenge of dealing with drone attacks inside its territory. On the other hand, India has increased its influence in Afghanistan seeking a greater role in regional politics, following the announced withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan in 2014. Thus, Pakistan faces a greater challenge of dealing with security threats, in one form or the other, emanating from the ever-changing regional scenario and also to balance its equations with regional players.

Although China has proved to be Pakistan’s trusted strategic ally in supporting its security apparatus and mechanism in order to deal with existing security threats. Of late, there has been a paradigm shift in its policies towards Pakistan. The China-India rapprochement paved the way for an economic alliance in some groupings as well.

Undoubtedly, Pakistan is faced with enormous and diverse challenges in the wake of internal security problems and the government has yet to devise an effective internal security policy. Lately, the Pakistan Army regarded internal security threats as ‘sub-conventional threats’ and stated in a new military doctrine: ‘the ongoing activities of Taliban militants in the restive tribal regions and unabated terrorist attacks on government installations in major cities are posing a real threat to Pakistan’s security.’

However, Director General for Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Major General Asim Saleem Bajwa categorically said: ‘The Army prepares for all forms of threats. Sub-conventional threat is a reality and is a part of a threat matrix faced by our country. But it doesn’t mean that the conventional threat has receded.’ To some people, the statement may appear a paradigm shift in our military strategy; the conventional threats would remain as the key concern to the army.

The internal security is regarded as of paramount importance to every country. Pakistan has been under severe criticism by other countries and international agencies over the deteriorating internal security situation and is viewed as ‘unsafe’ by a number of countries. It has also been criticised as ‘exporter of terrorism’.

To allay all the misperceptions and allegations Pakistan faced over the years it needs to adopt a comprehensive strategy that encompasses all relevant sections of the state and society. As Pakistan’s general election nears, the new government would be required to work for internal security. And for a stable and prosperous Pakistan, internal security is imperative. Although external and internal security threats in Pakistan are tied together, they are required to be dealt with by separate strategies.