KARACHI: In his first lecture since stepping down as dean and director of the Institute of Business Administration (IBA) last Friday, Dr Ishrat Husain was invited by Karachi University’s social sciences faculty to talk on the ‘Challenge of human security’.

Organised as part of the faculty’s ‘distinguished lecture series’, the faculty’s dean Prof Moonis Ahmer introduced the former governor of the State Bank of Pakistan and explained that they had decided to cover the topic as it was extremely important. He added that human security was part of non-traditional security and also covered environmental security, gender, education and economic security.

Dressed in a sharp grey suit and purple tie, Dr Husain said that economic growth and development were prime considerations for developing countries after World War II.

‘If the political system fails, there will be injustice’

“We all believed that if we grow economically and are able to overcome poverty, improve the standards of living and have decent workplace or jobs then we would be able to have very secure lives for ourselves and our families,” he said. “But in actual fact this did not happen and therefore, development practitioners as well as academics started reflecting upon this problem.”

He added that recent empirical evidence showed that while poverty had been reduced from almost 26 per cent to 15pc in the last 25 years, inequalities had increased and because of this “we are all trying to broaden our vision of the whole question of what human life requires in terms of its daily needs and sustenance, relationship with the rest of the community and place in the political spectrum”.

“Those of you who followed the Millennium Development Goals which were completed by 2015 know that their focus was on poverty reduction but also gender disparities being removed, access to education, health, drinking water, sanitation, environment and these eight goals were set for each country because just income goals and poverty reduction were not sufficient by themselves,” said Dr Husain, a recipient of the Hilal-i-Imtiaz.

Now, he added, we have moved towards 17 Sustainable Development Goals. “First one is to end poverty by 2030, provide access to education, health care, water supply, sanitation, environmental protection, gender disparities, employment, innovation and food security.

He said: “What is happening now is that a human being is being looked at like an object rather than a means for making productive activities, earning a livelihood and looking after their family.”

According to Dr Husain, the responsibility now is much greater. “The UNDP has come up with a framework that includes most of these sustainable development goals in terms of human security,” he said. “So it is not just the economic security but according to their definition we must also have food security, health security, environmental security, personal, community and political security.”

Discussing economic security, Dr Husain said it meant one should have a job which provided regular income to take care of the family’s basic needs and to keep them above the poverty line. “If you are below the poverty line even if you have a job, you won’t be taking care of your family’s basic needs, which is the threshold against which your economic security is measured,” he said.

He then moved on to food security which he said was one of the country’s major issues. Dr Husain claimed that due to malnutrition in mothers, many children suffered from stunted growth. “We need to work on health and need a complete nutrition package for mother and child,” he said while talking to students in the varsity’s Arts Auditorium on Thursday. He added that food security included clean drinking water and sanitation.

The former dean of the IBA also explained community, environmental, personal and political security.

While discussing political security, he said it was not about being a bystander but a participant in the country’s political affairs. “If you don’t vote, you will remain politically insecure,” he said. “If the political system fails, there will be injustice. Make the right choice and participate.”

Published in Dawn, March 18th, 2016