AS optics and perceptions go, it was a significant gesture. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif himself making the short trip across Islamabad to the headquarters of the organisation, the ISI, that nominally reports to him underscored Mr Sharif’s intention to try and improve in both substance and form the historically fraught civil-military relationship. Now that the prime minister has decided to turn his attention from the energy crisis to the security crisis, the real challenge has begun. In essence, the problem is two-fold. One, the state must methodically bring to an end the era of non-state actors systematically operating from and controlling pockets of Pakistani soil. Two, civilian supremacy over the armed forces and its intelligence apparatus must be established, and, flowing from that, national security and foreign policy must be turned into a civilian-led domain. To begin that long process, Mr Sharif has embarked on a round of consultations that will in all likelihood lead to a multi-party summit on national security and counterterrorism policy. If that sounds reasonable enough in theory, the problem is that the path that has to be walked has been known for a long time. Will the prime minister have the political will to set definite goals and then task his subordinates to do what it takes to achieve them? And, for all the army’s protestations that it genuinely wants to work together with the civilian leadership, what level of subordination will it be willing to accept in which policy areas? Sensibly, though, the prime minister and his circle of advisers appear to have honed in on two areas for immediate reforms: the police and intelligence coordination. Both are significant to securing the cities and rooting out shadowy terrorist networks that may plan their attacks in remote parts of the country but focus on the urban centres for maximal publicity of their cause and psychological damage. Nevertheless, at the core of the state contradiction is a civil-military imbalance that must — yes, must — be righted. Anything less and the country is unlikely to get the security-centric policy it actually needs and arguably deserves. Mr Sharif has the mandate and does appear to take the issue of national security seriously. But consultations and summits and meetings cannot be a substitute for meaningful policy. That must come from Mr Sharif’s office, and relatively soon. And to truly deal with militancy, terrorism and extremism, the prime minister cannot keep his home province, Punjab, out of bounds. A national policy must touch all parts of the country. dawn
Posted on: Sat, 13 Jul 2013 03:31:51 +0000