Imtiaz 2...
Imtiaz 2...
Imtiaz 2...
Abstract
Pakistan has been fighting the war on terror, as a front line
state, since September 2001. So far, the war has brought huge
destruction to Pakistan by slowing down the economic growth,
devastating the social structure, and harming the country
politically. This paper attempts to study the social, political, and
economic effects of the war on terror on Pakistan from 2009 to
2011. During this period, intensity of the war increased and it
spread into the settled areas of Pakistan. Federally Administered
Tribal Areas (FATA) and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK) suffered the
most. This qualitative paper shows a significant negative
relationship between terrorist activities and economic growth,
social progress, and political advancement.
1
Mr. Tariq Mehmood holds master’s degree in Public Policy from
National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies (GRIPS), Tokyo, Japan. He
is a member of the Provincial Civil Service of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Introduction
Terrorism means harassment, destruction, suicide attack and
killing of innocent people on no reasons.1Terrorism disturbs the
inhabitants, damage infrastructure, cause a decline in economic
well-being, bring political instability, and break the social fabric of
the society. Terrorism affects the economic growth of a country by
lowering foreign direct investment, capital formation, investment
and increases risk perception. When we look around the world from
a historical perspective, we see that war affected countries, whether
in Africa, Asia, Europe or any other region have suffered alike. More
terrorist attacks at private citizens, property, transport and airports
are related to lower capital formation and low GDP per capita
growth.2 The International Monetary Fund (2001) estimated the
direct costs of September 11, 2001 attacks on US as equal to $21.4
billion while, Navarro and Spencer (2001) found that the loss of
capital stock was $50 billion to $53 billion.3
Pakistan has been fighting the war on terror since September
2001. So far, the war has cost the country the lives of more than
35,000 citizens and 3,500 security personnel, besides destruction of
infrastructure and $67.93 billion direct economic loss.4 Pakistan is
facing terrorist attacks including suicide bombing which has
deteriorated law and order situation and the foreign investors are
reluctant to invest in Pakistan. The military operations against the
terrorists displaced millions of people from Swat district of KPK and
FATA. Terrorist activities also shattered Pakistan image in the
international community.5 Terrorism has threatened the peace,
stability and well-being of Pakistani society.6
The topic is significant because it has substantial policy
implications for the country as the period of the war on terror is
3.90
3.35 3.32
2.01
1.44
1.14 1.14
0.64 0.62
2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012
Endnotes
1Ayaz Ahmed Chachar, Aftab Ahmed Mangi, Zareen Abbasi and Zubair
Ahmed Chachar, “Impact of terrorism on the psychology of working
women in Pakistan: A case study of Sindh,” International Journal of
Science and Research, 2, no. 2 (2013): 462-465.
2 James R. Barth, Tong Li, Don McCarthy, Triphon Phumiwasana, and
global economy”,
www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/weo/2001/03/pdf/chapter2.pdf (accessed
June 12, 2013).
4Ministry of Finance, Government of Pakistan, “Economic survey of
Pakistan, 2010-2011”. http://www.finance.gov.pk/survey_1011.html
(accessed April 10, 2013).
15 Robert T. Greenbaum, Laura Dugan & Gary LaFree (2007). The impact
of terrorism on Italian employment and business activity. Retrieved June
14, 2013, from
http://www.ccjs.umd.edu/sites/ccjs.umd.edu/files/pubs/Greenbaum%20
Dugan%20LaFree%20Urban%20Studies%202007.pdf
16 Ministry of Finance, Govt. of Pakistan, “Economic survey of Pakistan”.