Risk, Pre-crime and Counterterrorism: Assessing Pakistan’s Approach

There is a gradual global shift in understanding counterterrorism from a risk management perspective. It takes into account the idea of Risk Society and can explain diverse practices adopted by states, particularly after September 11, 2001, in tackling terrorism. The resultant birth of a culture of fear dictates deviation in the aim of national security strategies from ensuring justice to safety through pre-emption. The Western states have of late increasingly stressed the need to eliminate the threat of terrorism as their top priority. Surprisingly, though, there is a dearth of certain crucial states in the prevalent discourse, which, despite being disadvantaged in the wake of developmental challenges, have encompassed congruent transformations. This paper aims to analyse whether Pakistan’s security and counterterrorism initiatives match those states that continue to invoke the primary interest of scholars and researchers around the globe. Such analysis retains the lens of risk management as a mode of governance in countering terrorism.