PM in hurry, but counter-terrorism policy still a long shot

As all eyes are set on the PML-N government to come up with a national security policy, there is hardly anything happening on the ground to suggest that any such policy is on its way, let alone in accordance per directive of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.

Following the new wave of terrorism in the country, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has asked Interior Minister Nisar Ali Khan to present the draft of the policy not later than August 13 (tomorrow) based on the deliberation made earlier on the issue of counter-terrorism.

But in the light of this directive from the prime minister, there hardly is a sign on the ground to suggest that the Interior Ministry is fully equipped and set to announce a security policy.

In order to prepare a national policy and that too on the issue of security and counter-terrorism, the government needs to do a lot of homework.

The ground work requires, for example, consultation with provinces in the first place which are the main stakeholders. The recommendations from the province form the bedrock of any such policy. Once the policy is ready on basis of these recommendations, it has to be discussed and approved by the federal cabinet. Being in pursuit of forging a national policy, it would be expedient to go a step further by discussing and debating the pros and cons of any such policy in the parliament or for that matter at a forum like APC.

Most importantly, the government cannot move ahead on this count without consulting the military leadership. The military leaders and establishment are key stakeholders that consider the formulation of security or even foreign policy their exclusive preserve. Seeking initiative from the military leadership in the making of security policy is a risky business too. No such consultation has so far been conducted by the PML-N government and had that been the case, the PML-N would have taken credit for sure.

As such, if the process leading to formulation of security policy requires input from military, provinces, and political leadership, we are hardly anywhere near the completion of the task that the prime minister wants done urgently.

The provinces are so far not forthcoming towards the federal government as they follow a policy of “wait and see”. The federal government has not yet started building bridges in provinces where its rivals are in power, KP and Sindh.

PTI Chairman Imran Khan keeps asking the federal government to complete a counter-terrorism policy at the earliest and repeated this demand a day earlier as well, saying without any such policy it would be futile to organise the APC.

But the PML-N’s initiative to hold APC went nowhere.

Now, any policy without taking provinces on board would not succeed. Interestingly, KP and Sindh are important as far as combating the war on terror is concerned and it would be interesting to see their response towards the federal government or vice versa.

The Sharifs are not yet ready to accommodate Imran Khan’s demand of a closed-door meeting with military leaders. The Sharifs probably are weighing the pros and cons of allowing Khan, to meet army chief along Nawaz Sharif.

Even in Balochistan, the federal government has not taken any major initiative, though it could at least start engagement with nationalists and rebel leaders.