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CHALLENGESANDRESPONSESFORDEMOCRACYANDSECURITY: PAKISTANS

PERSPECTIVE

The present discourse on democracy is predominantly dominated by the issues of security,

identities and issues related to the social transformation of societies. The issues concerning

both the government and society are surrounded by the debate on liberal and illiberaldemocratic norms and practices- causing a widening gap between the developed democracies

and democracies that continue to be in infancy.

1. The paper generally focuses on the democracy and security related challenges confronted

by the conflict-ridden South Asian regional states and in particular Pakistan. Tracing the

internal and the eternal dynamics of the threats confronted, the paper eamines itsconse!uential repercussions for the democracy including the societal security. The

multiple threats "both home grown and cross-border# are being used by the states to retain

several characteristics of national security state- the most visible being the role takenupon itself by the military to ensure the security of the state against all internal and

eternal enemies. The element of $fear% generated alongwith the &ustification appliedcontinues to influence the public debate on the fundamental concepts of sovereignty,

territorial integrity, the type and nature of the transnational threats and its impact on thesocieties. The paper particularly looks into the approaches identified and policies

formulated identified by the governments of Pakistan, Sri 'anka, (epal and )ndia in

addressing the twin threats i.e. internali*ed threat and eternali*ed threats. The measurestaken during post-conflict period particularly to ensure the reconciliation and integrating

of the marginali*ed and those sympathetic to the armed struggle+insurgency have also

been critically discussed. or eample Sri 'anka- a country known for multiculturalismand peaceful co-eistence amongst various religious communities is recovering from a

long internal ethnic strife- a strife which set into motion a new wave of violence being

employed by the insurgents. The thamendment of the Sri 'anka stated the position of theSri 'ankan government. The amendment states $(o person shall directly or indirectly, inor outside Sri 'anka, support, espouse, promote, finance, encourage or advocate the

establishment of a separate state within the territory of Sri 'anka. Anyone who

contravenes that provision becomes liable to the imposition of civic disability for uptoseven years, the forfeiture of his movable and immovable property / the loss of his

passport /)n addition if he is a member of parliament, he loses the seat.%

0. The killing of ellupillai Prabhakaran, Tamil leader apparently though has brought an

end to violent insurgency, however, their lies a number of serious political challenges for

the present government to seriously address. 2ost important for the Sri 'ankan

democracy being 3uilding trust-based relationship with the Tamils 4iaspora

3uilding bridges with the Tamil community living within Sri 'anka

5nsuring socio-political integration of Tamil population

4emilitari*ation of the Sri 'ankan democracy and governance

'ifting of emergency regulations6 substituting war economy with peace economy6

and replacing ultra-nationalist Sinhalese mind-set with Sri 'ankan nationalism.

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oremost among the concerns were the security issues surrounded by the threat

perceptions. )n this new political environment-multiculturalism is challenged and issues

of assimilation and integration have assumed greater importance.- The issue of etremismbeing related to violence and terrorism now poses new challenges to the social construct

of society. The challenges confronted by multiculturalism perhaps urgently needed the

rationali*ation+ homogeni*ation of culture. >hereas, transition to modernity is viewed asenforced due to global pressures and not "indigenous or a conse!uence of self

reali*ation#. >here the society sees the legitimacy of the governments coming from

abroad.Today when we talk about moderation or even the reasons for $dysfunctional

democracies% we see a tendency where we start identifying the commonalities- >ill such

an approach helpC or

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not only pose a challenge to democracy but to the state and societal security also. hile, it would be wrong to include those who picked-uparms and created violence "for eample 'al 2as&id episode of violence#-where the writ of

the government was challenged. As a matter of fact, Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan "TTP#

also does not falls in this particular category. The local population included in TTP in thecase of Swat violence, to me were rebels, traitors "those challenging the writ of the

government# and if it had or has any non-Pakistani involved then they are the invaders-

struggling to impose a system by resorting to violence and by generating fear. Perhaps,

the development has resulted in theori*ing the $;obweb Paradigm% in internationalpolitics-where the armed groups operate without any state control and are involved in

transborder conflict. or 5ample, )ndian claim of 7nited 'iberation ront of Assam

" 7'A# being based in 3angladesh6 a faction of (ational Socialist council of (agaland

leadership being based in 5urope, Thailand and 3urma, )ndian claim of 'ashkar-e-Taibaoperating from Pakistan and several other similar groups based in the regional countries.

The presence of such groups have undoulitedly added compleities to the inter and intra

state conflict6 have intensified the struggle for dominance between those who are

struggling to maintain the status !uo and those who are working for the change6 anddefinitely has made crises management more daunting.

. )n the case of Pakistan, the onset of the present challenge to the socio-political structures

to many is a foreign policy crises i.e. crises that is characteri*ed by threat. Taking threatperception to medium and high levels. iving rise to the threat perception particularly at

society level which has generated fear and polari*ation both. >here on the one hand the

7nited States is viewed both as a partner "at the governmental level# and an adversary "atpeople%s level#, while, on the other hand TTP continues to use violence+ terror to make

government comply to its demands.

The two reactions have caused the $Spiral Process%- which presently being eperienced

have strengthened the $enemy syndrome% and seemingly is now the guiding principle of

all actions and responses from the two sides.

5!ually important is to build a proper and a fuller understanding of the various attributes

of the present crises confronted by the Pakistan which has affected the socio-political

structures. The three important being the "1# system attributes, "0# crises attributes, and"=# actors attributes. The first implies the contet in which the crises unfolded. )n the case

of Pakistan the two very important characteristics of the attributes are conflict

environment "i.e. conflict that either made or intensified with the onset of >ar onTerrorism, whereas, the other characteristic is based on identity "i.e. struggle that we have

seen between liberal democracy and religious identity#. The crises and the actors

attributes in the case Pakistan, in my view were more a conse!uence of the regional

political environment and the >ar on Terrorism and hence have been kept out of the

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scope of this paper.