How urban spaces transform themselves when acting in a theatre of war?

Contemporary war poses new challenges for populations in urban areas, the space is fragile yet strong. It cannot be fully controlled by state-authorities nor fully bombarded by the insurgents. Iraq and Afghanistan have aided this discourse of city and warfare to a great extent.  A calculated warfare that has incalculable effects especially in contemporary urban spaces brings to surface the asymmetric warfare - planned strategies that governments and the international community adopt such as low-intensity operations and international aid supply in conflict zones.

The North Western area of Pakistan that shares a soft border with Afghanistan has encountered considerable turmoil in the last decade. With the war being fought in Afghanistan against the Taliban, and due to the geographic proximity, the porous border, war has gradually spilled into Pakistan, thus giving rise to a huge zone of instability. The export of violence and terror to the cities of Pakistan, has resulted in the extreme measures being taken by the state and military to wipe-out terrorism from the cities and villages, by declaring military operations in targeted villages, and by inducing security systems in the cities.

Geo-politics that transcends the limit of borders and territories is increasingly becoming a contested notion where the sovereignty of states is seen to be at stake. The notion of Contingent sovereignty1 has brought the state sovereignty under increased pressure in the last decade. This deals with the idea that state does not have an absolute right over its territory and must fulfill certain responsibilities and keep in view some obligations; failure to do so, may result in an intervention. The international community’s ‘right to protect’2 is the principle that allows foreign humanitarian intervention on ground of operation and also military forces entering a country on the basis of instability which pose a threat to the country itself or the international peace and security.

Boundaries and territorial borders are disappearing; their functions and role are also transforming as they become porous to trans-boundary movements and flows. Although the borders are becoming permeable at a certain level, regional and local groups are aiming to claim authority over their geographic territories. The War on terror declared in Afghanistan has far reaching effects that transcend the national boundary.

Relationship of war in Afghanistan and the instability in Pakistan is no-doubt, complex, that involves more than one factor or party at play. As cities get increased attention in case of suicide bombings and bomb blasts, one might want to question the active making of the contemporary city and the emerging collective subjectivity?  The scale of violence and trauma makes the whole situation complex or different from the violence that could occur in street where a person is stabbed to death. Here the enemy is not known – the enemy is working on a large scale hence large areas have to be modified in order for it to be contained. Mustafa has explicitly explains the nature of terrorism happening in Pakistan,

  An act of violence, different from other acts of violence, e.g., genocide, war, war crimes, political assassinations etc1. In that it is (1) a spectacle directed towards a wider audience than the immediate victims, (2) directed towards place destruction and/or (3) place alienation.3

The cities that are not dealing directly with the main area of war, and only used as a platform for intense expressions to induce terror, act differently. Sassen explains,

  With asymmetric war, the pursuit of national security has become the making of urban insecurity. Asymmetric war - war between a conventional army and armed insurgents has made cities one site in the map for warring. Cities worldwide are becoming a key theater for asymmetric war, regardless of what side of the divide they are on allies or enemies.4

It is a shared space of intense networks and exchange as the urban space lends itself to the theatre of war; the task of urban design, planning, development and control becomes enormous.

Peshawar in Particular happens to be one such city that is interlocked in the local, national and international affairs due to its strategic location. With War in the neighborhood and being several miles from the area of military operation, it serves as an important station for armed forces, migrants, internally displaced persons and aid agencies. The national highway, N5, that served as an important NATO supply line also passes through enhancing threat to the safety and security of the city. Rawalpindi and Islamabad are strategically important cities where a large number of international, national, military and governmental bodies are present. In the recent past, these cities have been the site of numerous bombings that are targeted at the Military hubs or security personals. Within this exchange of violence, the urban population has been a major target. There have been several instances where the insurgents have inflicted a festive or religious gathering with violence. 

The threat to the ‘gathering space’ is alarming for this society that celebrates these spaces in religious and traditional realms, for the mosques and market squares are filled with men on each Friday afternoon and the streets and main roads with processions on significant dates from the Islamic calendar, while the tradition calls for festivals such as Mela Charaghan (Festival of lamps to celebrate spring), Basant (to celebrate the harvest of mustard) and Urs (gatherings and processions at Sufi shrines).

With the situation at hand, the task of urban governance is no doubt quite challenging, as Paul Virilio explains..terrorism and cities are redefining each other in complex, but poorly explored, ways. These redefinitions effect not only power relations but reconstruct networks of communication, exchange and the practices of daily life: the society on the whole.5

It becomes interesting to trace out how urban inhabitants get affected by socio-spatial transformations. When crowds become the target of large-scale violence, the public gathering spaces are increasingly threatened hence the decrease in seasonal festivities. One conducts the body in certain ways of self-control, the actions that have developed within the collective subjectivity; people behave alike and share the same feeling as they move about in the city,

   War has entered the city again – the sphere of everyday, the private realm of the house… we find ourselves nervous when we use public transports or mingle in crowds, due to frequent bomb scares6

Gathering spaces in connection to urban field is important to analyze as they show several ways in which urban actors build a particular emotional field in the city by trying to restore the physical sense of connection to one another.

The evolution of the new security paradigms has redefined urban zones not only in terms of a transformed visual culture but also in their capabilities to sustain social urban life. To elaborate upon the visual culture, we may refer to the barricades and bombproof walls and the ‘naka[ (A temporary barrier placed on roads to channel movement) syndrome’ that constantly disrupt movement in the city and also acts as a reminder of the bleak situation. A city chocked with security alarms and gated compounds makes the city much more smaller with extensive mental barricades. The driving force of modern city planning remains ‘conflict avoidance’ and ‘smooth space of flows. In traffic in democracy, wrote,

  Flow seeks to increase speed (and save time) by prioritizing the faster means of movement. Safety is often foreground as the reason for this system of preferences; the potential for danger, confusion and slow-down resulting from the undisciplined mix gives rise to elaborated structures for vetting what traffic engineers call ‘conflict’ between modes. Typically, this means slower vehicles yield to faster ones and pedestrian to all, walkers deferring to cars, cars to trains, trains to planes and so on. Modern city planning is structured around an armature of such conflict avoidance.7

The security apparatus has been plugged into our urban domain as a crucial agency that redefines the role of a boundary wall and the sense of place of a public space. With increased surveillance and check posts around the city, one may like to think that the modern dream of a democratic city is perhaps dead when the movement in the city is controlled by the military.

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Ten years of instable security has ensured a conflicting rhythm between the life of urban dwellers and the evolution of the urban fabric. A market or a bazaar cannot be secured like an office building or a housing compound. The over-lapping activities in a mixed-use public space are open for not only the economic exchanges but also, social engagements. The idea of a city can be analyzed by looking at the diagram of a market. The market offers a showcase to chose from, an opportunity of engaging in a possible exchange, a probable advancement. Market allows you freedom to roam around, to choose from; to interact by will, to conduct your self in various ways. Multiplicity of this space lies in exchange and interaction, economic and social ties, uncertainty and chance but most important the opportunity. The promise of the city; betterment, advancement, speed and opportunities is visible in the market. The city is happening in the market. This space, be seen as an accumulation of efforts, skills and energies combined to counter economic social and political challenges.

The notion of the city is perhaps, compromised, when the sense of being able to conduct yourself in several different ways is threatened due to strict security in our urban spaces.  Although it ensures movement and is necessary to retain urban life, the naka-syndrome has instilled fear and stress in the overall urban environment.

How sustainable is the city when the markets, offices and mosques are bombed. How vibrant is the social life when fear enters the urban domain and brings to halt most social engagements. How are diverse urban actors assembled and how do they act. What is in the making as people constantly construct paranoid boundaries due to fear and how do they break certain boundaries and exceed categories in pursuit of everyday desires and needs? What sort of a collective subjectivity do we see emerging in this constant process that is re-defining private and public territories in a space laden with war, politics and life? Is it a challenge for our urban future?

What is at stake here, is not only the governance but also the sustenance of the urban environment. Perhaps, the challenge for today’s urban sustainability is much greater. We must not fear the population but the fear instilled in the population that is making our cities much smaller.

• 1. Elden, Stuart. (2006) ‘Contingent Sovereignty, Territorial Integrity and the Sanctity of Borders’, SAIS Review.XXVI (1) p. 11-24., p 14
• 2. Stuart Elden, Terror and Territory: The Spatial Extent of Sovereignty; U of Minnesota Press, 2009; pp. 153
• 3. Mustafa, Daanish. The terrible geographicalness of terrorism: reflections of a hazards geographer. Antipode, 37, 1: 72-92, pp.79
• 4. Sassen, Saskia, The City: Its Return as a Lens for Social Theory City, Culture and Society.1:3-10, 2010. pp 36
• 5. Virilio, Paul, Speed and Politics. Translated by Mark Polizzotti, NewYork, 1987.
• 6. Misselwitz, P. and Weizman, E. (2003) Military operations as urban planning, In A. Franke (ed.) territories. Berlin: KW institute for contemporary art, p, 272-85. pp 272
• 7. Michael Sorkin, Traffic in Democracy (Ann Arbor: University of. Michigan Press, 1997) p, 1-2