‘Re-imaging security in South Asia’; policies revolve around state-centric security in SAARC countries

‘Re-imaging security in South Asia’; policies revolve around state-centric security in SAARC countries

Islamabad (December 15), at the concluding day of the 14^th Sustainable Development Conference by the Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI), the speakers highlighted the fact that the South Asia is facing policy
challenges as the current policy environment revolves around state-centric security paradigms at the cost of  people-centric development. The speakers, at one of the session on topic mentioned above said notion of state security degenerates into enterprise
which serves the interests of powerful elements. Dr Abid Suleri said the major chunk of financial resources of Pakistan is spent on defense followed by debt servicing and administrative expenditures whereas governments usually cut social development spending
in times of financial crisis or to meet the first two needs. Dr Dibyesh Anand of Westminster University, UK maintained that state security should be viewed from the perspective of week segments of state as the traditional state security notion is predominantly
serves the vested interests of dominant classes. Dr Sabina Alkire of Oxford University, UK was of the opinion more people die due to hunger, malnutrition, and lack of health care than people die in violent conflicts and battles due to states’ overwhelming
focus on physical security involving more focus on territorial security ignoring the people.

In the session on ‘transnational feminisms, de-politicization, international development’, Dr. Fidaa Shehada, State University, USA, highlighted Palestinian women’s movements and conflict ridden conditions of Palestinian state
in which these courageous and strong women were managing their daily life and struggling for their rights. Dr. Farzana Bari of Qauid-I-Azam University urged women parliamentarians to develop more gender consciousness in a united manner towards the struggle
for women’s empowerment. Dr. Lubna Chaudhry of SDPI and State University of New York, USA shared younger women tended to be pro-Taliban due to radical programmes by Moulvi Fazlullah on radio, whereas the older women were more against them in Swat.

During the session on ‘Indus river watershed: adapting, mitigating, and sustaining the social ecological change’, Dr. Iqrar Ahmed of University of Agriculture Faisalabad maintained that sufficient storage structures have to be
built in the country to deal with increasing floods. Dr. Nuzrat Yar Khan of SDPI stressed on the need of education and its relevance with livelihoods. Faryal Gohar underlined the need for an inclusive national policy for addressing agriculture and water issues.

In the panel on ‘Celebrating literature by Rabindranath Tagore, Faiz Ahmad Faiz and Ustad Daman, Ahmad Saleem of SDPI, Humaira Ishfaq of Islamic International and Dr Niaz Zaman highlighted different aspects of their lives and the
contributions of these historic personalities.

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Posted by Fayyaz Yaseen on Dec 15 2011. Filed under Latest News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry