Clarity in national security policy

For too long, Pakistan’s security agencies have been doing their own thing instead of complementing one another.

There has been lots of hype surrounding the National Internal Security Policy (NISP) in recent days — being touted by the government as the first comprehensive policy document to be produced by Pakistan on security.

While this may be true, there are many viewing the NISP, and its massive objectives list, with a healthy dose of scepticism. And it is not without reason. It is pointed out that most of the document is effectively a statement of intentions. In fact, most of it is laden with truisms and lofty platitudes that have long been thrown around as part of the ‘what-needs-to-be-done’ narrative that has always existed in Pakistan, traditionally, without a concrete ‘how-to-do-it’ policy. On the face of it, this policy is no different. Take for example education reforms and a push to bring madrassa education into the mainstream regulation. This is hardly a new concept and was even attempted with much fanfare under the administration of former president General (retd) Pervez Musharraf, but didn’t meet with much success. We know it needs to be done, but how does the government propose to do it differently?

At the heart of the policy is the National Counter-Terrorism Authority (NACTA), which will be the implementing body of the new doctrine and has been tasked with almost every aspect of the policy. Yet, it merits mention that NACTA has existed for a while now, and got legal cover almost a year ago, but its board has not held a single meeting during this period. In fact, according to reports, there is basically no high-ranking staff currently in NACTA. The trick will be activating this body — and here’s the rub. First, there will have to be a push to man the organisation — an effort that cannot, for obvious reasons, be rushed — but, even once it becomes active, having to deal with everything from ground operations to education curriculums, as has been envisaged in the NISP, will certainly not be easy.

That said, one would still be wise to hold out final judgment — for a number of reasons. Firstly, the entire document has not been made public. The administrative segment — which could very well contain the elusive ‘how-to-do-it’ part — has, for ‘security reasons’, not been handed out. Though little is known about this segment, it is said that it contains details of how various intelligence and law-enforcement agencies will coordinate and under what mechanism. At the moment, all we know is that the government is looking to set up more fancy-sounding institutions, such as a ‘Directorate of Internal Security’ with a ‘Rapid Response Force’ and other centralised sub-bodies. We do not know when or if these will materialise, and whether many of those meant to be involved will be willing participants — which is a valid question given these agencies’ traditional secrecy and insistence on working alone. For too long, Pakistan’s myriad security and intelligence agencies have been doing their own thing instead of complementing one another’s strengths and weaknesses, sharing intelligence and cooperating in ground operations.

All the security and intelligence agencies have been listed in the NISP document, and their duties assigned. Read with a new coordination framework, this could also indeed be material progress. If the terms of reference are clear enough, and all stakeholders are on board, which is believed to be the case, then this is indeed a breakthrough. The coming weeks and months will allow us to get a better idea of how these bodies will work. In addition, credit must also be given to the interior ministry for bringing all these wide-ranging objectives — as lofty and timeworn as they may be — under one policy roof, which is as much an achievement as it is an indictment of past administrations’ failure to paint a larger picture. As has been said in this space before, clarity of thought will lead to clarity of action. And that is why one can still pin some hope on this document yet.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 1^st, 2014.

Like Opinion & Editorial on Facebook, follow @ETOpEd on Twitter to receive all updates on all our daily pieces.