The Idea of Security among Marginalised Students in Pakistan

Security is often defined through the lens of state sovereignty, military capacity, and law enforcement. However, this understanding does not always capture the lived realities of individuals, especially those from marginalised and disputed regions. This article presents findings from field research aimed at understanding how students from these areas, particularly Balochistan, conceptualise security. The responses were collected through direct interviews and then compared with insights generated through AI models such as ChatGPT and DeepSeek. The objective is to determine whether these students’ perspectives align more closely with traditional (state-centric) or critical (human-centric) paradigms of security.

Theoretical Framework: Traditional vs. Critical Security Paradigms

The traditional security paradigm is rooted in realist thought, where the state’s primary concern is safeguarding territorial integrity and protecting its citizens from external and internal threats. This framework often emphasises military force, policing, and centralised control.

In contrast, critical security studies challenge this narrow view by including non-traditional threats such as poverty, lack of education, ethnic marginalisation, and environmental degradation. Scholars such as Barry Buzan and Ken Booth argue that security should be ’emancipatory’, centring on human beings, their dignity, rights, and agency. This framework is particularly relevant for analysing security in marginalised regions, where threats are more structural than kinetic.

Field Interviews: Summary of Responses

Respondent	Idea of Security
Person 1	Multidimensional: includes economic, environmental, societal, and human security
Person 2	Personal and familial safety, protection of property
Person 3	Protection of basic rights like life and education
Person 4	Basic definition – safety from harm
Person 5	Beyond law enforcement: protection of vision, views (emotional/political freedom)
Person 6	Local context: insecurity due to internal riots and conflict
Person 7	Security as physical and digital protection (locks, apps, watchmen)

Thematic Analysis: Traditional vs. Critical Perspectives

Traditional Security Indicators

• Person 2 and Person 4 emphasise physical safety and the role of law enforcement.
• Person 6 discusses internal instability and conflict, reflecting a law-and-order or militarised view.

Critical Security Indicators

• Person 1 presents a comprehensive, human-centric view touching upon economic, societal, and environmental aspects and minority rights.
• Person 3 emphasises rights-based security, such as access to life and education.
• Person 5 highlights emotional and political freedom, reflecting a more identity-based or freedom-oriented security concern.
• Person 7 brings in digital security, showing an evolving, individualised understanding of security in modern times.

Regional and Historical Context

Balochistan has historically experienced economic deprivation, political exclusion. The region’s complex tribal structure, resource wealth, and strategic importance have made it both valuable and vulnerable in Pakistan’s national strategy. Development initiatives like CPEC have often been seen as top-down, lacking local consultation and benefit distribution, which reinforces a sense of alienation.

Balochistan has been facing economic as well as political marginality. Its rich resources, its strategic location and its complicated tribal organisation have determined that this region is both worthwhile and susceptible in the national design of Pakistan. Development projects such as CPEC have also been perceived as top-down development in the sense that no consultation or sharing of benefits occurs locally, which further emphasises a feeling of alienation.

Moreover, policies of several decades have led to a situation in which students and youth do not feel physically safe, but also politically and culturally safe. In this regard, they are free to share more about security in terms of rights, identity, inclusion, and dignity and not just basic security concerning their physical safety.

Comparative Analysis: Interview Data vs. AI Models

ChatGPT Insights

ChatGPT offers a dual perspective:
– Traditional View: Focus on state control, insurgency suppression, and protection of strategic projects like CPEC.
– Critical View: Emphasises disenfranchisement, economic neglect, rights abuses, and identity concerns.

The interview responses largely reflect ChatGPT’s critical security narrative, especially regarding the lack of services, human rights concerns, and a strong desire for inclusion and dignity.

DeepSeek Insights

DeepSeek adopts a political and structural analytical approach:
– It highlights historical injustices, economic exploitation, and counterinsurgency as root causes of insecurity.
– It proposes solutions like dialogue, inclusive governance, local development, and regional diplomacy.

Students’ lived experiences particularly those of Person 1 and Person 5 mirror DeepSeek’s emphasis on empowerment, identity, and participatory development.

Statistical Alignment: Which Paradigm Dominates?

Category	No. of Responses	Interpretation
Traditional Security	3	Physical safety, law enforcement, local unrest (Persons 2, 4, 6)
Critical Security	4	Rights, identity, inclusion, non-material dimensions (Persons 1, 3, 5, 7)

Policy Implications

The results point to an obvious policy dilemma: the maintenance of a classic security mentality can result in additional marginalisation and agitation. Policymakers should not only focus on militarisation to solve the superficial causes of insecurity in Balochistan, but particularly in Balochistan among the youth, they should consider human development and dialogue instead of supremacy. They ought to make the national efforts, such as CPEC, beneficial to the locals. There should be electoral reforms and decentralisation of politics.

To these students, security is not a matter of soldiers on the streets but their voices being heard in institutions.

Recommendations

Human Security Integration, as the health, education, identity, and environmental issues should be integrated into the national security policy of the country. Decentralise authority to local governments to decide on issues concerning education, development and management of resources. Promote non-threatening forums of political expression and civic engagement in marginalised students, and civic engagement in universities. One of the topics that digital safety addresses involves the necessity to ensure that students are not watched or harassed online or limited in their freedom of speech. Mental and Emotional Well-being by creating a system of counselling and peer support in universities to abolish the emotional insecurities, fears of politics, and the inhibition of identity.

Conclusion

This study brings out the fact that the students in marginalised and war-torn areas do not consider security as a form of protection against violence alone. They would rather think of it in terms of being freed of the fear, having access to rights, emotional and political freedom, online security, and the overall dignity of a human being. Such approaches contest mainstream state-based accounts of security and prefer more critical approaches to security. The results

underscore the necessity of the human-focused security issue that needs to be considered as part of the national policy by Pakistani policymakers, especially in such regions as Balochistan, to guarantee the long-term development and peace.

The views expressed in this article are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Opinion Desk.