SEA LEVEL RISE – IMPACTS ON THE NATIONAL SECURITY: A CASE STUDY OF PAKISTAN’S SIR CREEK

Abstract

The Sea-Level Rise is posing a serious threat to the national security of Pakistan. It is causing hazardous effects for Sir Creek and its adjacent creeks on the Pakistani side. The hostility in India-Pakistan relations and water scarcity are intervening variables and environmental changes in the Indus Deltaic Region (IDR) are a threat multiplier factor to the national security of Pakistan. The hypothesis is deductively tested against the security postulate of New Patterns of Security in the 21st Century, by Barry Buzan, under the emblem of the non-traditional security paradigm of the Copenhagen School of Thought. The issue of sea level rise (SLR) has caused severe environmental changes including salinity, sea intrusion, sea encroachment, and land erosion. These environmental alterations have given rise to economic challenges like deprivations and disparity among the coastal communities of the Indus deltaic region (IDR), in low-lying areas of the littorals of the Arabian Sea. Social insecurity in form of ethnolinguistic differences, migrations, and communal clashes is emerging as a result of socio-economic deprivation. The political leadership at the center and in provinces avoids the responsibility for catering to these issues. This is interconnecting these multifaceted challenges as a threat to military security in the wake of hybrid warfare through sub-conventional strategy. The case study has been conducted using the participant research approach, to jot down the impact level and intensity with the help of the face validity technique. An in-depth analysis of the available qualitative has been done in this research study, the results show that there is a dire need to tackle the issue on immediate grounds, as policymakers seem to be running out of time in this matter. It is not a low-hanging fruit, but rather a difficult puzzle to solve, owing to the rising significance of the Indian Ocean Region. Sea encroachment towards inland and the endless widening mouths of creeks are impacting the maritime zone of Pakistan, due to the unsettled issue of demarcation and delimitation over Sir Creek between Pakistan and India.