Security Governance in the Post-Colony: The Political and Social Consequences of Pakistan’s Counterterrorism Strategy

Abstract

This chapter works through the dynamics of counterterrorism policy in Pakistan in relation to its inconsistent and often contradictory political imaginary and other postcolonial formulations. It sketches some of these contours and reveals Pakistan’s unevenness towards religious and secular modernities; inequitable patterns of social, political, and economic development; and problematic regional relations. The chapter then examines Pakistan’s approach toward counterterrorism since 9/11 and subsequent changes in counterterrorism policies after the 2015 Peshawar school bombings, which culminated in the National Action Plan. These discussions are framed within the broader sociopolitical entanglements in which Pakistan and its people are enmeshed, including changes within daily public and social life. Without diminishing the persistent reality of terrorism in Pakistan, the chapter concludes by arguing that Pakistan’s counterterrorism policies risk being formulated solely based on oversimplified narratives of national security and increasing state legibility without a deeper appreciation of the social, political, and intellectual lives of its citizens, and their aspirations for the future.