Human Security Concerns of South Asia: (India and Pakistan’s Perspective) & Holistic Approaches of EU towards Advancing Regional Security in South Asia

Abstract

The South Asian states have been facing grave challenges to human security since long as a result of increasing extremism, religious intolerance, border conflicts and terrorism. These domestic, regional and global factors are a menace and main hindrance in the progress and prosperity of this region and are the most contributing factors behind the fragile establishment and non- stability of peace in the region. Terrorism has posed a serious threat to peace, security and stability of this region and the rest of the international community. Besides it has caused huge amount of loss in terms of human lives and economical terms as it has lowered the progress graph of the region to the lowest in its history at times. This article highlights the human security problems specific to India and Pakistan, though contextualized within broader human security challenges affecting South Asia. Today, both India and Pakistan are facing different types of internal and external threats ranging from cross border terrorism to internal militia groups. The South Asian region has strategically strong and weak features, where Pakistan and India are two major regional players, who always remain in tussle to manifest their hegemony in the region by gaining more and more military and other aggressive and other forms of power. Therefore, the issues regarding peace and security depend on the relationship between these two countries, even security in other small neighboring countries depend on this relationship. India and Pakistan lives in an environment lacking in human security. At present, former is suffering from radical approaches in the political system of the country and whole democratic setup is being continuously replaced by religious oriented ideology while Pakistan is facing crucial problems like political instability, socio-economic underdevelopment, energy crises, terrorism, drone attacks, suicide bombing impacting human security in the country. The authors suggest that India and Pakistan need to make progress in the field of economics and trade and realize that at present it is in the interest of not only the two states but also their huge populations. There is an urgent need for the EU to revise and update its South Asia strategy. The EU is not yet an important player in South Asia, but the region is of increasing importance to the EU – not only for economic reasons, but also for the security of the European continent. Indeed, not only does the EU rely heavily on the Indian Ocean to secure its position as a major actor in world trade, but instability in regions like Afghanistan and Pakistan directly impact European security through their links to home-grown terrorism and similar threats.