Contested peace: duality of security in post-conflict North Waziristan

ABSTRACT This paper attempts to disentangle the concept of security by exploring the duality between state security and societal security in post-conflict North Waziristan, Pakistan. The conceptual explications are centered on the interrelation between state security and societal security, to assess the securitizing potentials of state and society, which impact the durability of post-conflict peace. The reconceptualization is steered through an empirical overemphasis on the state-led security practices for reconstructing post-conflict security in North Waziristan and the consequent provincial merger (FATA-KP merger) that followed. Simply put, this paper intertwines conceptual analysis with empirical observations on post-conflict state security and societal security in North Waziristan to illuminate the underlying causes of the 'contested' peace in the former tribal Agency. Although this discussion is context-driven, most of the analysis is applicable, mutatis mutandis, to analyze state security and societal security in post-conflict settings.