ABSTRACT
The third chapter clarifies that Pakistan has continued with its military-centric national security state approach in the changing post-Cold War security environment. In South Asia, the security situation essentially remained the same for Pakistan despite a changing global security environment. Nonetheless, Islamabad lost the strategic position it once had occupied during the Cold War. Even with civilians in Pakistan’s government, the military excluded the political leadership from key strategic decision making, with respect to the Kashmir conflict and the country’s nuclear programme, and the president dismissed three elected governments with the support of the Pakistani military in the post-Cold War era. This meant that Pakistan has persisted with its military-first national security state approach which they adopted during the Cold War. The Pakistani military elite effectively used other state institutions such as the judiciary, bureaucracy, far-right groups, and media to undermine the political process in the country. After the 9/11 terrorist attacks, General Pervez Musharraf’s government reinvigorated its military-centred national security approach by making an alliance with the US in the global war on terror. The civilian leadership attempted to transform this security approach by establishing civilian rule in the country, but they largely failed to do so in the post-Cold War era.
