First National Security Policy of Pakistan
National security was defined "in the right manner" in the new policy, as Pakistan had a one-dimensional thought: "We only need military security’
Imran Khan Prime Minister of Pakistan
Pakistan has approved its first ever national security policy on 14th january 2022 and it is the first ever policy that has a public document as well, but before getting in depth of it let's discuss what national security is?
National security means to safeguard the state from all internal and external chaos, National security is not only limited to defence and security but it comprises several elements including economy, health and safety, cyber protection and all such elements that strengthen the national power.
Moreover it defines a clear path that the country would be following in the up-coming years.
Economic Security Core Element Of Pakistan's National Security
Pakistan has been facing severe economic crises from the past few years, inflation rate has increased exponentially making even the basic necessities unaffordable for a common citizen.
Huge amounts of taxes have been imposed on vehicles, petrol, real estate and other utilities causing a severe downfall on survival of an ordinary citizen.
Heavy amount of loans from the IMF and other countries has forced the government to surrender its freedom, as by hook or by crook the government has to accept the loan conditions.
Considering the above circumstances the Prime Minister of Pakistan is very clear on deciding the economic security to be the core element of Pakistan's first ever national security policy.
Difference Between The Vision Now and Before
In the past though, no national security policy has been approved officially but the concept and vision of the policy was limited to military and defence centric framework, economy was equally ignored and that has forced the country to bite the bullet.
The current government has realised the consequences of ignoring the economy therefore the focus has been shifted from military and defence to economic stability for the first time ever.
Since the inception of the country no one has been able to come forward and take this bold step, but the current government has done it in a very positive way. But the question is how will that be achieved?
The government will have to eliminate all the factors that led the country to fall down to the current state, no person, no institution will be above law, everyone has to be answerable to what they are doing.
Nothing could change if we keep on ignoring merit and keep on appointing incapable people in important positions.
Overview
The national security policy has been approved by the cabinet on 14th January 2022 for a period of five years i.e 2022-2026, but the government will review it by the end of every year. The document has 110 pages in total, but the public version will consist of 62 pages.
The Eight Sections of National Security Policy
The policy emphasises on envisioning the country as an “Islamic Welfare State” ensuring fundamental rights and justice for everyone without any discrimination of colour, cast, creed or belief. The guiding principle of government for national cohesion is “Unity in Diversity”.
The vision of government officials and public services to be responsive to people's needs will be useless if there is no noticeable difference on ground.
The policy claims to ensure the economic growth of the country through improvement in trade, energy, education and emerging technologies sector and the objective of the policy to join “upper middle income countries list” by the end of 2026 seems to be a tough call.
The policy vision on defence and national integrity was pretty clear, assigning the military to defend the state integrity at all costs and retaliate to any internal or foreign chaos but at the same time not to get stuck in an arms race.
Highlighting the internal security issues including challenges like terrorism, extremism, secterianism etc the objective of policy was to maintain writ of state all across, nobody will be above law in any case, though it will be very hard for the government to gather all under the umbrella of law and regulations as it has not been possible till date.
Summing up, the objective of policy on foreign relations is to maintain a peaceful relation with the neighbours and border sharing countries and strengthen the bond with friend countries like China UK and Arab countries.
Kashmir Issue and National Security Policy
Unlike the past, the policy objects to resolving the kashmir issue in a peaceful manner, kashmir issue has not been resolved since the inception of the country and the dispute has resulted in loss of billions of dollars and lives of innocent people therefore the policy strongly believes to resolve the issue peacefully.
This objective of the policy, resolving the Kashmir issue in a peaceful manner could be regarded as the smartest objective of the policy.
If we look at the past, wars have remained unconcluded. The only outcome of the war was loss in terms of lives, in terms of money, in terms of assets, and in terms of time. Therefore if we would have opted again the same policy of war, only loss would increase and the matter would still have remained unsettled.
Hence concluding the Kashmir issue peacefully and with help of dialogues will not only save resources but hundreds of lives as well.
Conclusion
Pakistan's first ever national security policy is a bold and very positive step towards the development of the country visualising the real needs and ground realities of the state.
Pakistan will be a lot better by the end of 2026 if the policy is implemented as it is stated, the government will have to face staunch challenges in implementation but there is no other choice.
