Supremacy of Parliament: Civil-military imbalance has made Pakistan a security state, says Babar

Policies in foreign relations and security were made by the security establishment without oversight of the parliament

The civil-military imbalance is a critical political issue that has made Pakistan a security-driven state instead of a welfare-oriented one. This can only be addressed collectively by Parliament, the government, political parties, the media and civil society. No government in the past had succeeded in correcting it, nor is likely to succeed in the future without the backing of political parties and the Parliament across the political divide.

This was stated by Senator Farhatullah Babar at a symposium on parliamentary oversight of the security sector in Islamabad on Wednesday, according to a press release issued by Pildat.

He said it was widely believed that policies in critical foreign relations and national security areas were made by the security establishment without oversight of the parliament and political forces. “Indeed the security establishment seems to have struck with a vengeance whenever civil-political forces tried to shape foreign policy,” he said.

Elaborating, he said that General Zia, using Islam as a facade, dismissed PM Junejo when the latter tried to take political parties on board on the Geneva Accords on Afghanistan.

He said Nawaz Sharif’s bold move to normalise relations with India was not only scuttled through the Kargil misadventure, but the former PM was also punished with dismissal, a court case seeking the death penalty, and a decade of exile.

He opined that it is widely believed that in her first government, Benazir Bhutto was not allowed to pick her own foreign minister. “This demonstrates the refusal of the establishment even to share the foreign policy formulation.”

During her second tenure, according to her account, she refused to acquiesce into misadventures like Kargil, and was hounded and dubbed a security risk, he said.

He revealed that some years ago, when Parliament asked for a copy of the law governing state security agencies, it was bluntly told to keep its hands off because it was a “secret and sensitive” issue.

He said that during successive military rules, the civil-military imbalance deteriorated from bad to worse through instruments such as the National Security Council and numerous ordinances that specifically altered the balance and were indemnified by Parliament. In this connection, he referred to the successive DHA ordinances and the National Command Authority.

“The Defence Budget had been placed before Parliament for the first time. It is now for the members to make use of the opportunity.”

He said that the MPs should endeavour to ensure replies to their questions were not denied under the he facade of ‘national interest’ or ‘secret and sensitive’. Disallowing parliamentary instruments without offering cogent reasons in writing compromised the oversight power of Parliament, he said.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 22^nd, 2012.