Ethical Wound of Militancy and Insurgency: Militancy and Insurgency exposure as a predictor of moral injury among the population of tribal areas of KP, Pakistan

https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.17062093

Abstract

Militancy and insurgency not only result in physical destruction but also inflict deep psychological, social, and moral scars. One of the harsh consequences of civil war is moral injury, which emerges when people commit, witness, or are unable to stop actions that violate their moral and ethical beliefs and values. The study hypothesized whether exposure to militancy and insurgency war predicts moral injury among residents of war-affected areas in KP. Additionally, it also compared the severity of moral injury among individuals exposed to militancy and insurgency from tribal areas and individuals from the general region of KP, who are not exposed to militancy and insurgency. A cross-sectional study was designed with a purposive sample of 300 individuals, equally divided between civilians from conflict-impacted tribal districts (n=150) and those from general areas of KP with no exposure to civil war (n=150). Moral injury was measured using the Expression of Moral Injury Scale-Civilian Version (EMIS-C) by Thomas et al. (2023, while civil war exposure was assessed through demographic questions. Regression analyses revealed that exposure to terrorist activities (R²=.313 or 31%), military operations (R²=.333 or 33%), and cumulative impact of violence (R²=.303 or 30%) strongly predicted moral injury (P<.001). Independent-Sample T-tests further showed that individuals from tribal areas of (civil war victims) reported significantly high levels of moral injury scores (M=61.67, SD=13.46) as compared to the individuals from general areas of KPK (M=44.00, SD=11.95), confirming the hypotheses. Findings of the study indicate that exposure to militancy and insurgency significantly predicts moral injury among civilians, emphasizing that moral injury extends beyond military personnel but profoundly impacts civilian populations. These findings highlight the urgent need for culturally sensitive, community-based interventions to respond to both psychological and moral injury.