The 2008 Geneva Declaration on Armed Violence and Development, endorsed by more than 90 states, argues that “living free from the threat of armed violence is a basic human need.” It should be noted that interstate and civil wars have decreased since the 1990’s according to World Bank’s World Development Report 2011. The annual number of battle deaths in civil war fell from 160,000 a year in the 1980’s to 50,000 in 2000s.
These wars have been replaced by a different kind of war, one that is fought against an invisible enemy through sporadic attacks and drones. The modern landscape of violence includes terrorist attacks by movements that claim ideological motives and recruit internationally.
Pakistan is very much at the front and centre of this war on terror and it is fighting this war at an unimaginable cost. Indeed over the last decade 86 per cent of nearly 50,000 fatalities from terrorism occurred in attacks aimed at non-western targets. Pakistan is plagued by violence. Whether it is the recent killing spree in Karachi or frequent suicide bombs, this violence is taking its toll on our society. The cost of this violence for citizens, communities and the country, both in terms of human suffering and social and economic consequences is immeasurable. These costs are both direct (loss of life, disability, destruction) and indirect (prevention, instability, displacement).
According to the World Bank’s report on Conflict, Security and Development, poverty reduction in countries affected by major violence is on average nearly a percentage point slower per year than in countries not affected by violence. The report goes on to claim that the disruptive effect of violence on development and the widening gap between countries affected by violence and those not affected are “deeply troubling”.
Economic reforms are needed to escape the cycle of violence. Fragile and conflict-prone situations often share a raft of structural economic problems – low per capita GDP, fiscal imbalances, chaotic regulations, dependence and natural resources, high illiteracy, rapid growing populations, and a dearth of physical infrastructure.
Apart from tackling the state’s enemy head on with the military, one possible solution is to target the supply line of these terrorist networks. The Taliban operates on trafficking of drugs, people and commodities. It takes advantage of communications, transport and financial services. So far they have been able to overwhelm the government’s enforcement mechanisms that are either rooted in national jurisdictions or hampered by low cooperation and weak capacity.
However, violence is also caused by low income levels, youth unemployment and unequal distribution of wealth. These issues are more or less in our control and their solutions have to be tackled by gradually introducing feasible and prioritised reforms.
Late in 2009, the agreement by Pakistan’s federal and provincial government leaders in the Seventh National Finance Commission Award was hailed as a “major achievement and a positive event for those who believe that the future of a vibrant Pakistan lies in a democratic federation”. In a country where grievances over inequality in revenue-sharing go back a long time and have been part of a broader set of tensions between regions in the country this was a welcome sign. Especially considering that attempts to reach an agreement had failed 17 times.
Similarly, education systems have the potential to mitigate conflict and contribute to peacebuilding in the long term, but also to exacerbate and perpetuate violent settings, depending on the nuances of policies, designs, and implementation efforts, as well as different drivers of conflict and fragility. According to the World Bank’s report in 2008 the primary completion rate in Pakistan is just 60 per cent. There is much to be done in terms of providing education to the masses considering that literacy was supposed to reach 100 per cent by 1975 but is still much less than the stated goal even today.
However, more than anything else the leadership needs to restore confidence of stakeholders and citizens in collective capacities for change because perhaps the greatest loss that Pakistan has incurred because of this onslaught of violence is its people’s trust in state institutions to deal with this violence.
The writer is News Editor, Profit
The real cost of violence
