Implications of Lethal Autonomous Weapon Systems (LAWS): Options for Pakistan

Abstract

According to general perception, future wars will be fought with Lethal Autonomous Weapon Systems (LAWS). As LAWS become a technological reality with the ability to make independent decisions about the use of weapons, policymakers would also have more opportunities to deploy a military force with very limited or no risk to personnel. Though, there is pressure to not allow such a system to decide whether or not to kill a human - ethical, legal, military, technological, and economic debates are underway about whether these types of weapons should be limited or banned altogether. While machines are already part of today’s military operations, with their increased autonomy, decision-makers may become more prone to the use of force. Though autonomous technology can serve humanitarian purposes, nonetheless, there need to be guarantees that these technologies would not be transferred from humanitarian work to serve military purposes. Pakistan’s stance is very clear: it has called for a ban on LAWS. However, Pakistan would be ill-advised to ignore Research and Development in this technology. It needs to follow the technological advancements in this field, for research and security purposes.