Govt should share draft policy with political leaders
Confusion continues to mar the feeble attempts of the current administration to deal with the menace of terrorism. Was 12 July the final date for the now postponed consultative meeting on National Security Policy or just a proposed date? This is the latest controversy to have emerged as the official handouts from the Interior Ministry clashed with the handout from the Prime Minister’s House. With PTI Chairman Imran Khan out of the country for two weeks, the government went into damage control with the Interior Minister Nisar Ali Khan claiming it was merely a “proposed date”, with consultations with all political leaders still under way. The interior ministry has insisted that they shall get in touch with the PM after the consultations are complete, but an official statement from the PM’s house on 3 July had stated, “Prime Minister has decided to convene a meeting of all heads of political parties represented in parliament on 12 July, 2013.”
The stalled meeting points to a continuation of the lack of coordination that has led to the failure of previous attempts to bring all political parties to a consensus on how to deal with security threats to the country, especially for the increasingly active Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). The government sources have claimed that most of the in-house work has been completed. The National Counter Terrorism Authority (NACTA) has formulated a draft of the national security policy and the government is now sharing it with state institutions for feedback. However, this draft has not been shared with political parties. Again, questions shall be asked of the PML-N government which had insisted that interior and foreign policy shall now be dictated by political actors. Now it appears that the first glimpse political parties will get of the draft policy shall be in the consultative meeting itself.
On a better note, PM Nawaz Sharif is set to convene a meeting of parliamentarians from the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) on Wednesday (today) to discuss issues relating to national security, development and administration. The FATA parliamentarians have demanded that security agency representatives also be present at the meeting, which the PM is not willing to agree to. A consensus based agreement is required and some analysts suggest that “time should not be the issue” as long as a clear policy comes about. With Imran Khan missing, the PTI Information Secretary Dr Shireen Mazari has suggested that Khan being at the meeting was not essential since the PTI had its “four demands” chalked out. While we wait for another date for the said meeting, the army, civil and military intelligence agencies and interior ministry officials should deliberate the draft prepared by NACTA. Ideally the draft should also be sent to political parties to discuss. While a consensus may not emerge in the first meeting, it is important that all stakeholders be present and the army and intelligence agencies give a detailed briefing to parliamentary heads. Only then can this war be our war.
