IN developing countries, national security was the exclusive domain of the state, with state institutions enjoying monopoly over the subject under the cover of secrecy policies. As the 21st century progressed, we got stronger democracies, freedom of expression, better access to information and improved transparency. Globalisation revolutionised the pace of information dissemination, impacting the dynamics of national security positively and negatively. The post-9/11 era not only multiplied security challenges, it also made civil society an active stakeholder in the process.

After the National Internal Security Policy of 2014, the National Action Plan was the second consensually drafted policy document approved by Pakistan’s parliament. The drafting of NAP, Nisp I, Nisp II, and, recently, the National Security Policy (NSP) 2022-2026 speaks of a growing realisation in policy circles of the need to transition from a whole-of-state to a whole-of-government approach to find answers to Pakistan’s many security challenges.

The NSP’s formulation began in 2014, and the end product is said to be the result of consultation with 120 experts. The document represents a policy transition from a security-centric approach to an economy- and human security-centric approach. It has eight sections, including one focusing exclusively on internal security.

Ideally, a security policy should reflect a government’s policy, the input of state institutions and public opinion. But its desired goal can’t be achieved without a communication strategy. In this age of openness, defining the exact boundaries of national security is tough. Participation in the national security dialogue, therefore, makes it incumbent on the media to adopt a balanced approach between freedom and responsibility.

The ideals of NSP can’t be realised without good governance.

The ideals of NSP cannot be realised without good governance. Though the NSP quotes the term ‘governance’ 13 times, its objectives cannot be accomplished without institutional and administrative reforms and capacity-building exercises. Administrative reforms in Balochistan and Punjab and the creation of new provinces will improve public service delivery, governance, peace and development pace. Fata’s merger with KP is a step in the right direction; but the merger’s dividends can’t be attained solely by applying a security-centric approach; it will also require a reforms-based approach to overhauling social development and the criminal justice system.

The NSP rightly identifies the need to check growing violent sub-nationalist tendencies and incorporates a four-pronged policy of engagement, including separating reconcilables from irreconcilables; cutting off recruitment; constricting financial sources; and pursuing targeted socioeconomic policies to address governance concerns. Since 2001, Pakistan has notified 78 organisations as proscribed. Of the total, 19 are violent sub-nationalist and 20 sectarian organisations. This indicates that addressing societal fault lines needs the adoption of a combination of hard and soft approaches.

With the 18th Amendment in the backdrop, exactly how ministries and provincial departments convert ideas into actionable plans is a challenge. The synchronisation of internal security priorities requires active inter-provincial coordination and allocation of greater resources by provinces for security purposes. Owing to weak institutional capacity and response, law-enforcement agencies usually try to meet public expectations by employing a statistical approach, due to which public satisfaction generally remains unfulfilled.

The police are vital in this context, but the Nisp mentions them only once. Without police reform and a depoliticised police, internal security cannot be guaranteed. The underperforming cybersecurity sector, polarisation, regio­nal instability, weak governance, poor public service delivery, poor monitoring apparatus, ethnic and sectarian fault lines and weak coordination among LEAs are irritants that negatively impact policy implementation.

The NSP emphasises the need for strengthening counterterrorism agencies. In Pakistan, CT is a concurrent subject, wherein provinces operate their respective counterterrorism departments and are engaged in related operations and investigations. The Anti-Terrorism Act, however, is a federal law and a number of federal institutions are entrusted with countering terrorism and terrorism financing as well as coordination and intelligence-sharing functions.

Despite that, an operational federal CT apparatus remains a missing link. The jurisdiction of a federal CTD should be to take up investigation of CT cases with nationwide or transnational implications. With that view, the establishment of a federal CTD is inevitable. Following the principles of cooperative federalism will help realise NSP goals but it will need close collaboration among federal, provincial and local governments.

The writer is author of Pakistan: In Between Extremism and Peace.

Twitter: @alibabakhel

Published in Dawn, June 3rd, 2022