The devil, indeed, is in the details
Even the adversaries of the prime minister are acknowledging his political wisdom in handling the crisis ridden situation post Army Public School tragedy. The consensus based formulation of the 20-point National Action Plan (NAP) was not an easy task by any standard. But his sagacity was self-evident in striving to bring together leadership from across the political spectrum on a united platform to evolve the NAP. The political maturity demonstrated by the political leadership of all parties in this situation is praiseworthy. Let us hope that this unity will not be transitory.
Necessary steps required to move towards the implementation of the NAP have been or are being taken. For instance a number of committees had been constituted and 21st constitutional amendment needed for setting up of military courts had sailed through the Parliament. Getting this amendment through was not easy though. For instance, JUI-F as well as JI didn’t vote in favour of this amendment. Both these parties had their own axe to grind. Their opposition had not gone well with the general public. Instead of digging into the reasons for their opposition in this article, one would rather leave it for the public to judge whether these parties betrayed a national cause at this critical moment or not.
The establishment of military courts is being and will continue to be debated. But Senator Raza Rabbani’s posturing and brief speech summed up nicely the paradox of individual conscience pricking and voting at the same time in favour of the military courts through a constitutional amendment as a political compulsion. Generally speaking, political activists’ experience of the military courts during martial law regimes had not been a pleasant one. No one knows it better than those who had suffered because of these courts, including our present information minister.
But let us hope that these courts will be short-lived and would be wound up after the menace of extremism and terrorism had been eliminated. This extraordinary situation demands that both the military and the civilian leadership need to be on the same page to achieve a high priority and urgent strategic national goal. Without this unity of thought and action, implementation of this goal will be nigh impossible.
Merely the constitution of a plethora of committees will not help in effective implementation of the NAP. Our national leaders are adept at making plans but short on execution. I vividly recall that somewhere in 1987, the former PM of Singapore Mr Lee Kuan Yew visited Pakistan. He also visited LUMS to address a forum of Pakistani businesspersons. After his speech someone from the audience asked him about his success to turnaround Singapore, upon which came a quick and crisp response from him: “My government’s capacity to effectively implement our national plans.”
Those tasked with the responsibility to implement the NAP plan ought to realise that it is a major change programme. Therefore, the PM and the interior minister will be well advised to learn from others’ experiences of implementing change akin to the NAP. Managing the implementation of this multi-dimensional plan during the tempestuous period that our nation had confronted post APS massacre will be a complex challenge.
However, to ensure effective implementation of the NAP and to overcome any barriers, the government must be cognizant of the pitfalls faced in the implementation of national plans especially during extraordinary periods. Here is a list of these common pitfalls:
- Implementation of plans takes more time than originally allocated.
- Major problems surface during implementation that had not been identified beforehand.
- Coordination of implementation activities across the 15 committees headed by different ministers might turn out to be ineffective.
- Competing and conflicting activities and routine commitments and emergencies could distract attention from implementation.
- Skills and abilities of committee members engaged in implementation tasks may be insufficient.
- Uncontrollable and unanticipated factors in the external environment could have an adverse impact on implementation.
- Tackling the forces that didn’t support the establishment of the military courts through the constitutional amendment might turn out to be an un-removable stumbling stone.
While the above seven points are, doubtless, among the most pervasive implementation challenges, the list goes on. Other important pitfalls include failing to win adequate support for implementation. For instance, Imran Khan’s new ultimatum to start his agitation from January 18 could threaten the implementation of NAP. Here, despite the opposition of JUI-F and JI it would be pertinent to win them over for implementation of the NAP. The NAP is a signature plan. The leadership of both JUI-F and JI should recognise this fact.
A few steps which might enhance the probability of effective implementation would, amongst others, include winning public support and persuading cynics. This would require that any progress achieved on the implementation plan must be widely shared. Also, effective coordination across the national committees and provincial apex committees would require a monitoring and learning cell at the PM Office to watch over the progress on the established timelines. Next, the urgency of implementation of NAP would need to be brought to the public’s attention so that the public becomes the watchdog instead of some complacent bureaucrats who might be in the habit of considering everything as a typical routine. Last but not the least, necessary resources of sorts must be allocated and placed at the disposal of those institutions that would have the primary responsibility to oversee the timely implementation of this important NAP.
The NAP while not perfect is a defining document. Its effective and timely implementation will determine what kind of future awaits our nation. Without internal peace and national unity to fight extremists and terrorists envisaged in the NAP, we may not be able to realise the national goals of wiping out disease, ignorance and hunger.
