NSC approves Pakistan’s first-ever national security policy

The National Security Council (NSC) on Monday approved Pakistan’s first-ever National Security Policy (NSP) 2022-2026, which aims at bolstering the country’s economic security and tackling external as well as internal challenges.

The policy will now be presented before the federal cabinet on December 28 (today) before it is officially adopted.

The security policy was unveiled at the 36th NSC meeting chaired by Prime Minister Imran Khan. The meeting was attended by federal ministers for foreign affairs, defence, information and broadcasting, interior, finance, human rights, chairman joint chiefs of staff committee, all services chiefs, national security adviser and senior civil and military officers.

Briefing the participants on the salient features of the NSP, National Security Adviser (NSA) Moeed Yusuf highlighted that Pakistan was shifting to a comprehensive national security framework, emphasising that the ultimate purpose of national security was to ensure the safety and security of citizens.

To ensure the citizen-centric approach to security, the NSP put economic security at the core, saying a stronger economy would create additional resources that would in turn be judiciously distributed to further bolster military and human security.

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Apart from the economic and military issues, the draft sheds light on the country’s water security as well as population growth, terrorism and foreign policy, particularly concerning the Kashmir and Afghan issues and relations with other countries in the region and beyond.

Participants were informed that the NSP had been devised through a whole-of-government effort over the last seven years, and included extensive consultations among federal government institutions, provinces and academia as well as the private sector.

It was highlighted that a detailed implementation framework had been created through which the National Security Division would review progress in collaboration with relevant ministries and departments.

During the meeting, PM Imran remarked that the security of Pakistan rested in the security of its citizens and expressed confidence that the country was well prepared to meet any internal and external threats.
Terming the NSP’s formulation a historic moment, he said that the policy must guide all organs of the government to ensure that their efforts are synchronised with the overall direction of the NSP.

The premier instructed the NSA to present an implementation progress report to the NSC every month.
With the approval of the security draft, it is being said that the country’s challenges and opportunities would be outlined for the first time and the government would be able to refer to the policy guidelines in the future.

The NSP will now be presented to the federal cabinet while its public version will be released in due course. NSC members, while approving the NSP, appreciated the National Security Division and all other government departments for this effort.

Meanwhile, the participants also unanimously approved the revitalisation of the Planning Committee and the expansion of NSC’s Advisory Board during the meeting.

Also read: Economy, national security inter-linked: NSA

‘A dynamic document’

The NSC is a principal forum mandated for considering national security and foreign policy matters with the senior national security advisers and cabinet ministers. On December 6, NSA Dr Moeed Yusuf had presented the draft of the policy before the Parliamentary Committee on National Security amid opposition parties’ boycott of the meeting.

The NSA had told the attendees of the meeting that the draft was a result of the consultations with the stakeholders for the last seven years, adding it could be reviewed each year to keep it abreast with policy priorities in a fast-changing global environment.

During the briefing, the NSA had briefed the parliamentarians sans opposition members the details of the policy, saying the policy was designed to leverage the symbiotic relationship between human security, economic security and military security with the prosperity and safety of citizens as its principal focus.

Moeed had said that it endeavours to put economic security at the core of policy priorities to expand the national resource pie for greater investments in human and military security. He said that the process of consultations with stakeholders for the formulation of the National Security Policy was initiated in 2014 after the establishment of the National Security Division.

In the year 2018, he added, a drafting committee was established which built on earlier work, adding that several rounds of feedback consultations on multiple drafts were held with all state institutions, including provincial government and the governments of Gilgit-Baltistan and Azad Jammu and Kashmir.

This was followed by consultations with over 600 academics, analysts, civil society members and students across Pakistan to make the policy process inclusive, he maintained.

“The policy is expected to be a dynamic document which will be reviewed each year and on the transition of government to help keep the National Security Policy abreast with policy priorities in a fast-changing global environment,” Moeed had said.