- What’s wrong with the old one?
The need for a new National Action Plan (NAP) would have made more sense if the original one had been implemented in letter and spirit and still found wanting. It was pretty clear that the previous government just did not have the political will and resolve to implement the vital plan. So far, in the little time it has been in office, the new government has not placed it anywhere near the top of its list of priorities either. Now it turns out that the inaction owed to a new plan in the works; one that is the brainchild of Minister of State for Interior Shehryar Khan Afridi.
But wasn’t one of the positives of the old plan that it had across-the-board participation and acceptance? How can a new one, which ‘bridges the gaps’ of the old one, replace it if it is the working of only one man? Wasn’t the old way of doing it, which involved building consensus, also the right way? Considering the APS tragedy that forced the NAP in the first place, shouldn’t the government take all political and security bodies on board for consultations before announcing something so important?
There is a lot of confusion on the political front at the moment. The government, seemingly obsessed with its accountability drive (which the opposition calls a blatant witch hunt), has alienated everybody else on the political horizon. So much so that no crucial committee has yet been formed in the House. It is imperative not to let this political environment impact the realm of security. No matter how much various political outfits dislike each other, they will simply have to work together on matters of security, if not much more, in the interest of the people and service of the state. The government is advised to make all efforts to first implement the original plan, then get across-the-board consensus before formulating a new one. Simply imposing its own plan on others, at this point, would only amount to putting the cart before the horse.
