As reported in The Nation (November 19), during a television discussion program, Fouzia Wahab had stated that there was a difference in threat perception between President Asif Ali Zardari and the Chief of Army Staff, General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani. She is further reported to have said that the President was trying for a 'paradigm shift' in the country's threat perception from being 'security specific' to an 'economic specific' paradigm. She was, though, unable to elaborate what exactly that implied or how that would be done. It is extremely worrying news for me, as indeed it would be for every Pakistani, that there is a wide gulf between two of our top men on a matter of such grave concern as the security of the country. I would have thought that with the increasing terrorist activity and our enemies active on many fronts, some supposedly even operating from within the country, it is the security threat that is paramount. Moreover, one can hardly think of boosting economic activity without first ensuring security. As opposed to individuals who may lack experience to foresee things clearly and suggest/adopt correct remedial measures, the Army is an institution whose decisions in such matters should override others because these would have been made on the basis of accumulated institutional wisdom and sound planning. This is hardly the time for inexperienced individuals to work things out based on trial and error because with the noose tightening around us, there simply is not much time. There may be no second chance. -S. R. H. HASHMI, Karachi, November 19.