Security is defined as the absence of threat. But threats are ever present and so the desire to achieve absolute security may never completely materialise, both at the individual as well as at the level of the State. By living in a state, people delegate the responsibility of their physical as well as economic security to the functionaries of the state. At least this is the concept. But as we see in the poor and underdeveloped country like ours, those who run the affairs of the state are doing better but people continue to suffer.
Pakistan must not fail its people. It must guarantee the security of the people. It must not allow itself to become dysfunctional. It must remain sovereign in all matters related to its foreign policy as well as security.
Only by doing this, will it do justice to the safety, security and the welfare of the people who chose to live in it. Sovereignty cannot exist in any form without being exercised. It is when our rulers decide to accept the hegemony of the dominant states and forego their constitutional right to make the policy decisions in the best interest of the people that they let down the people who live in it. Such decisions are mostly taken to suit the personal interests of the rulers and not our state and its vital interests.
Pakistan is unfortunate that it did not have political parties or the leaders in the past to define an ideology that represents its history, the wishes and aspirations of its people. When a state fails to evolve a viable ideology, it creates a crisis of identity. This creates a crisis of legitimacy of its existence on a ‘legitimate state idea’ and the result is permanent crisis of state power with which we suffer today.
LT COL (Retd)MUHAMMAD ALI EHSAN
Karachi
