Non-State Actors And Nation Building In Pakistan: An Islamic Perspective
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Date
2018-04
Authors
Abbasi, Ommar Hayat
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
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.
Description
Keywords
Non-state entities involved in violence , declare them terrorists regardless of the nature