Non-State Actors And Nation Building In Pakistan: An Islamic Perspective

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Date
2018-04
Authors
Abbasi, Ommar Hayat
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Publisher
Universiti Sains Malaysia
Abstract
Terrorism remains at the forefront of contemporary world stage. Conventionally, in the study of political science or international relations, the ‘use of force’ has legally been understood as to be associated with the state and illegal and criminal for non-state entity(s). Therefore, the omnipotent states use force against any non-state entities involved in violence and declare them terrorists regardless of the nature of their demands. Because of its peculiarity, Pakistan has gone through sweetand- sour kind of relationship with the violent non-state actors (NSAs). Pakistan’s choice to adhere to which type of paradigm domestically was greatly influenced by its foreign relations. In this quagmire, it could neither build the state nor the nation as was needed. Although in the contemporary state-centric international structure, states remain the fountainhead of power. However, its purpose remains the emancipation of individuals. The people in Pakistan remained largely ignored in policy formation, and were ultimately deprived of their basic rights which are expected from any state under social contract. Lack of interest on peoples’ emancipation created a gulf between the state and society thus provided room for NSAs to operate. This research focuses on role of state in the creation, abandonment and coercion of NSAs and consequently, how NSAs counter challenged Pakistani polity. The sublime objective of this research is to deviate prevailing academic and scholarly discourse vis-à-vis NSAs from counterterrorism/counterinsurgency perspectives to focus on the emancipation of people and restoration of social contract. As a theoretical contribution this research embeds Islamic Perspective Theory (IPT) apart from critical security studies theory and nation building theory.
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Keywords
Non-state entities involved in violence , declare them terrorists regardless of the nature
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