Security has been a defining fea­ture of international relations for ages. Traditionally, security has been defined as deterrence against any external aggression. More specif­ically from a traditional lens, security has been viewed as securing borders from any ag­gression of external enemies since much of human histo­ry. Prominent security schol­ars from Sun Tzu to Clausewitz, this sense of security has prevailed which forced monarchies and king­doms to have a powerful military force and modernization of troops through­out the history of sapiens.

However, since the end of the Cold War (Dec 1991), this traditional con­cept of security has been challenged and the scope of security has expanded and broadened in many dimensions. Promi­nent international and security analysts opined that in the 21st century secur­ing borders from external aggression does not provide a complete spectrum of security due to the complex and ever-changing nature of war and peace in in­ternational scenarios.

Therefore, eminent international scholar Barry Buzan opined that secu­rity is all about the capability of a state to maintain its independence, ideology, and functional integrity. In this regard, security can be redefined in many ways like political security, economic securi­ty, societal security, environmental secu­rity, cyber security, human security, and military security. All of these security di­mensions combined to come up with a comprehensive sense of security.

Let’s talk about political security which is defined as a peaceful and sta­ble sense of politics and political na­ture within the domestic territory of the country, ensuring a peaceful transfer of power. Political security is a subset of all other security in today’s world and pro­vides a reservoir for other sense of se­curity. For example, America has been able to exact its power across the globe due to political security and peaceful transfer of power since 1797. Much of China’s economic prosperity has been directly linked with political stability in China which builds business confidence and fiscal policy continuity, paving the pathway of China’s trajectory to become the world’s next superpower. Regard­ing Pakistan, one can observe that many of the ills of Pakistan are deeply rooted in political disability and polarization in the country since its independence. Rapid change of governments, disrupt the power of transfer, and weak politi­cal institutions provided a perfect rec­ipe for political instability. Therefore, Pakistan needs political stability and a peaceful transfer of power for compre­hensive security plans.

Meanwhile, economic security is an­other important pillar of non-traditional security in the present age. A strong and peaceful economy uplifts the standing of the nation in the international com­munity and its people’s lifestyle. For ex­ample, since President Deng’s economic reforms and opening up of the econo­my, China’s economy was able to regis­ter double the digital growth rate, and today its GDP stands at around $19 tril­lion- the second largest economy- and its per capita income is around $12000. Owing to such an impressive econom­ic growth rate, China was able to lift 900 million people out of the poverty line in the last forty years. More inter­estingly, the Chinese trajectory to the second largest economy can boost its influence and soft power in the interna­tional community. BRI, SCO and BRICS Plus are some of the Chinese-led initia­tives, showing the influence of the coun­try due to its powerful economy. Look­ing at Pakistan, this country, although became an economic model of growth in the 1950s and 1960s, yet poor economic choices forced Pakistan to approach IMF 23 times for a bailout package. The cur­rent account deficit, trade deficit, infla­tion, unemployment, and inconsistent fiscal choices are chief reasons for the economic downfall of Pakistan, and re­ducing its influence in the international community. Therefore, Pakistan needs a comprehensive economic plan to have a strong foundation for its economy.

In the meantime, Pakistan also needs societal security which revolves around the peaceful living of different commu­nities, ethnicities, and religious groups within the community. Unfortunate­ly, growing intolerance and hatred have cracked this sense of security in this country. Pakistan needs a Singapore model of peaceful co-existence within the country. Tolerance, mixing, peace, debate, and acceptance could yield unity in diversity, resulting in overall societal peace and security.

Moving forward, environmental secu­rity has also become a defining feature of the 21st century and is directly linked with peace and war on the international front. Heatwaves, droughts, rapid melt­ing of glaciers and ice sheets, urban flooding, deforestation, rise and acidi­ty of oceans, and ecological collapse of ecosystems are major outfalls of climate change and global warming. Pakistan has ranked as the fifth most vulnerable country as per the Global Climate Index (2023). As per internal and external as­sessment reports, the country’s climate crisis could trigger political and eco­nomic crises. Thus, this country needs a comprehensive environmental securi­ty- which also includes food and water security- framework for combating cli­mate change. In this regard, both gov­ernmental and individual-level efforts are required to provide bulletproof cli­mate security.

Meanwhile, in the age of artificial intel­ligence, big data, and biotechnology, cy­ber security has become the need of the hour. Without cyber security, any coun­try remains vulnerable before its ene­mies. It is worth noting that a breach of cyber security could result in political polarization, fake news, deep-fakes, eco­nomic loss, power shortage, etc. There­fore, cyber security has become a sub­set of other non-traditional security. In this context, Pakistan should implement its first National Cyber Security Policy (2021) in its letter and spirit.

Furthermore, human security, a con­cept coined by prominent Pakistan econ­omist Mahbub ul Haq, resolves around providing basic amenities to its popula­tion like education, healthcare and oth­er fundamental rights. Experts view that human security is directly linked with political stability and economic sustain­ability. Unfortunately, Pakistan has been losing ground on human security since the 1990s compared to its region. There­fore, without providing human security, Pakistan’s future stands at teetering.

Lastly, this country has been in the midst of a gulf of terrorism since the dawn of this century. Proxies like TTP and BLA have been getting full-spec­trum support from our rival coun­tries, disrupting peace and stability in the country and tolling the death rate each day along with economic loss of billions. Therefore, Pakistan must come up with military and non-military means to uproot the evils of terrorism. Interestingly, all recent national doc­uments like National Security Policy (2022-26) recognized both traditional and non-traditional security challeng­es of the country and provided a citi­zen-centric nature of comprehensive security, moving away from the single-handed nature of security.

Sher Ali Bukhari
The writer is a UET alumni with keen interest in Pakistan’s foreign policy