| Author | Waheed, Abdul |
| Call Number | AIT Diss. no.RD-11-04 |
| Subject(s) | Terrorism--Pakistan
|
| Note | A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the
degree of Doctor of Philosophy in
Regional and Rural Development Planning, School of Environment, Resources and Development
|
| Publisher | Asian Institute of Technology |
| Abstract | Over the past decade people in Pakistan have come to suffer from terrorism almost as an
everyday phenomenon. Terrorism has flourished in Pakistan since 200 l, over 1500
terrorists' attacks targeted public places, government installations and houses of worship.
Quite apart from its macro-impact on the economy and public safety arising from
destruction of infrastructure, loss of mobility and livelihoods, and the psychology
associated with fear or post-traumatic stress, such random violence is beginning to show
impact on families who have directly suffered. As such, the human cost of terrorism in
Pakistan perhaps far exceeds its socio-economic aspects. The current research aims to
investigate the emerging patterns in terrorist activities following 9111 incident. It further
articulates that how this growing warfare has affected the social and economic dynamics in
families directly impacted. Moreover, it conceptualizes a terrorism prevention strategy
named "community defense strategy" through enhancing community resilience/capacity.
For the purpose of analysis the emerging pattern of terrorism, over 1180 terrorist incidents
had been taken into account. Moreover, 124 deceased families and survivors families
affected from terrorist attacks in Lahore were interviewed through questionnaire survey to
investigate the social and economic consequences confronted by them following the
te1rorist attacks. The findings suggested that terrorism has flourished in Pakistan since
2001. Over the time, terrorism activities spread across the country. Targeting main urban
centers and law enforcement agencies staff and their establishments has increased.
However, emergence of suicide attacks is the distinctive change is terr01ism since 200 l.
With increased frequency, the terrorist attacks have become more lethal especially the
suicide attacks which involved large scale human victimization. The society in general and
the affected population in particular suffered serious socioeconomic consequences due to
these attacks. Findings reveal that the effects of terrorism on these families are numerous
and alter family dynamics. Family breadwinners are predominantly the direct victims.
Their age, educational background and employment status indicate that educated, workingclass youth are the primary victims of attacks. In addition to the impact caused by the
sabotage of business centers, the main effect of terrorist attacks has been financial setbacks
created by the loss of family income after a victim's death. For survivors, severe multiple
injuries have redirected family income previously available for educational expenses.
These socioeconomic changes have also affected children's academic performance as
majority of the children either failed to promote to next classes or received lower grades.
Findings relevant to state role and responses suggested that state support extended to
affected families is inadequate, and there is an immediate need for effective state
intervention to rehabilitate these families and stimulate their socioeconomic recovery. In
the midst of poor economic conditions and lack of social security, the affected families
may slide into a vicious cycle of poverty. The state should initiate concrete measures to
facilitate assistance to the affected families, particularly women, by enhancing their
income-earning capacities and ensuring adequate employment opportunities. Provision of
vocational training may be an effective strategy for addressing this issue and can help
stimulate the process of economic recovery in the affected families. Similarly, it is
imperative to identify measures to ensure continuity in the education of the children of
affected families. Depriving these children of proper education could result in a heavy cost
to society in the future. Because they are young, affected children are very vulnerable to
becoming enticed by criminals or extremists, which could lead to their involvement in
criminal or te1Torist activities if left unattended. Moreover, the level of te1rn1ism
knowledge was also not satisfactory among the respondents. Along with this, lack of
public pa11icipation in terr01ism related prevention measures at community level and
lll
absence of trust between general public and law enforcement agencies has strong
implication for preventing and streamlining the counter-terrorism activities in Pakistan.
Inadequate knowledge about the government efforts to combat terrorism is also affecting
the public trust on the government and its machinery. It is therefore very important for the
government to take prompt measures to increase the public awareness regarding terrorism
and its prevention measure. In this regard, electronic media could play vital role by
promoting and disseminating information besides covering the terrorist attacks incidents
and political talks only. |
| Year | 2011 |
| Type | Dissertation |
| School | School of Environment, Resources, and Development (SERD) |
| Department | Department of Development and Sustainability (DDS) |
| Academic Program/FoS | Rural Development, Gender and Resources (RD) |
| Chairperson(s) | Ahmad, Mokbul Morshed |
| Examination Committee(s) | Routray, Jayant Kumar ;Doneys, Philippe ; Pedahzur, Ami |
| Scholarship Donor(s) | Higher Education Commission (HEC), Pakistan -
AIT Fellowship |
| Degree | Thesis (Ph.D.) - Asian Institute of Technology, 2011 |