Abstract
As an institution, the Pakistan Army has been playing a significant role in dealing with emergencies and disasters facing the nation. The novel coronavirus disease, Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) COVID-19, was wreaking havoc around the world. The pandemic is a threat to health and has caused severe damage across most aspects of the society. The situation forced the formation of a unique series of civil–military inter-agency relationships to be formed, in order to curb the spread of the pandemic. The Pakistan Army that was neither trained nor equipped to undertake any such health disaster management operation played a significant role in preventing disease and overcoming the disaster. Civil–military cooperation (CIMIC) was the key to the successful response of Pakistan towards COVID-19. The research was based on qualitative interviews that analysed the phenomenon of COVID-19 pandemic, that is, ‘health disaster’, to elucidate the disaster management practices performed through the framework of CIMIC in Pakistan. With regard to this, the article argued that formulating a comprehensive guideline or framework was necessary to maintain an effective and cooperative relationship between civil and military components. It further demonstrated the need to recognise the constitutive factors that influenced the functionalisation and institutionalisation of CIMIC to manage the highly complex health-related emergencies.
Highlights
Civil–military cooperation (CIMIC) has become a catch-phrase in the disaster and crises management agendas of the 21st century, considering the unprecedented nature of the emerging natural disasters (AghaKouchak et al 2018; Zhou et al 2018)
With the weak public health infrastructure and lack of emergency preparedness mechanisms (Pakistan spends less than 1% of its total Gross Domestic Product (GDP) on public healthcare annually, see Ullah et al 2020), Pakistan found itself highly exposed to COVID-19 infiltration from neighbouring China and Iran
We identified barriers and opportunities for CIMIC during disaster management activities in Pakistan
Summary
Civil–military cooperation (CIMIC) has become a catch-phrase in the disaster and crises management agendas of the 21st century, considering the unprecedented nature of the emerging natural disasters (AghaKouchak et al 2018; Zhou et al 2018). Rapid urbanisation and declining ecosystems (Chabas et al 2018; Smith & Fazil 2019) are amongst the most frequent involved factors in the rise of (new) infectious diseases (Cuthbertson et al 2019). As the nature of the health disasters has changed, the need for a synergised intra-institutional response has increased, especially regarding ‘civil’ and ‘military’ cooperation (i.e. CIMIC). The application of CIMIC whilst dealing with health crises is not a new phenomenon, but instead there is a long pedigree of military involvement (as an institution) in health emergencies (Licina 2012; Michaud et al 2019)
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