ISLAMABAD - The much-touted National Security Policy (NSP) of Pakistan was finally announced on 14th January 2022 under the chairmanship of Prime Minister Imran Khan without any discussion or debate in both houses of the Parliament or even in any of the concerned Select Committees of the Parliament, though Khan termed it a consensus document defining national security properly.
The original 110-page NSP will, however, remain classified, but a public version of the 62 pages report released has been read carefully and views are restricted to it rather than speculation of the confidential part.
The main themes of the NSP are national cohesion, defense, and territorial integrity, securing an economic future, foreign policy, internal security, and human security. Essentially it remains a ‘National Policy Paper’, termed ‘National Security Policy’ understandably due to wholesome and all-encompassing meaning of the national security implied and understood in the contemporary West, i.e. ‘The National Security or national defence, which is the security and defence of a nation-state, including its citizens, economy, and institutions, regarded as a duty of government’. Originally conceived as protection against military attack, National Security is now widely understood to include also wider dimensions, including the security from terrorism, minimization of crime, economic security, energy security, environmental security, food security, cyber-security etc.
Similarly, national security risks include, in addition to the actions of other nation-states, action by violent non-state actors, by narcotic cartels, and by multinational corporations, and also the effects of natural disasters. Governments rely on a range of measures, including political, economic, and military power, as well as diplomacy, to safeguard the security of a nation-state. They may also act to build the conditions of security regionally and internationally by reducing transnational causes of insecurity, such as climate change, economic inequality, political exclusion, and nuclear proliferation.
All national policies are prepared and pursued for the attainment of ‘National Interest’, which is ‘a rationality of governing referring to a sovereign state’s goals and ambitions, be they economic, military, cultural, or otherwise’. The simplest definition of national interest describes national interest as, “The security and well-being of the people of a state.” Therefore, NSP’s unfolding of detailed themes could have preferably been preceded by first defining the ‘National Interest’ followed by stipulating goals or objectives to be achieved; NSA and his team may like to incorporate that for better focus and subsequent ease of implementation by the concerned ministries and departments. As for implementation, while the NSC remains the apex body; however, for issuance of subsequent instructions from the PM or NSC meetings, seeking progress, coordination aspects and compilation of reports, the NSD shall continue to play a role lest bureaucratic grudges come into play and shoot down the NSA for trying to grow bigger than the given shoe size.
— The writer is a retired senior military officer
with experience in international relations, geopolitical and strategic security policy issues.