Govt’s assurance in Senate National Security Policy will be tabled in Parliament

ISLAMABAD: The government held out an assurance in the Senate on Tuesday that its first-ever National Security Policy (NSP) will be tabled in Parliament.

The assurance came from Leader of the House Dr Shahzad Waseem soon after the opposition protested that the legislature has not been taken into confidence over this policy that places economic security at its core.

Ex-chairman Senate Mian Raza Rabbani raised the issue in the House on a point of public importance. Senator Rabbani pointed out that neither Parliament nor the provinces had been taken into confidence over the recently-launched NSP by the government and emphasised that Prime Minister Imran Khan should have made public important points of the policy either in the National Assembly or in the Senate.

He contended that this policy would not be effective until Parliament would examine it and said it would remain ineffective as long as there would be no input of Parliament, provinces and civil society on it.

He emphasised that “we would not give this right to the State that non-elected people while sitting with the executive making future policies or future action plans and Parliament is not taken into confidence thereon.”

Leader of the House Senator Waseem said PM Imran Khan’s government is the first one that has given a policy on national security and explained that all the stakeholders had been invited when the policy was being drafted.

At the draft stage, he said the policy was presented before the Parliamentary Committee on National Security for deliberations but the opposition boycotted that meeting and criticised the government. He noted that a specific portion of the policy was classified while another has been made public.

“We are going to present the policy before the Standing Committee on Defence while the government is ready to present it at any parliamentary forum,” he said. Earlier, during the Question-Hour session, the House once again witnessed a heated debate over the rehiring of retired personnel of Pakistan armed forces in the National Database and Registration Authority (Nadra) on key positions there.

The Senate had deliberations over this matter earlier in the previous session as well. Jamaat-e-Islami Senator Mushtaq Ahmad was asked to put a fresh question for the related details. Reading out his question No 54, Senator Mushtaq again protested that the Ministry of Interior once again had not given complete answer to his question that how many retired officials from the armed forces had been rehired by Nadra. He said instead a general answer has been given, saying that the authority has 13,997 employees in total. He explained: “I have asked this because unemployment has increased (in Pakistan) according to he Pakistan Bureau of Statistics. On the one hand, youth are not getting jobs and on the other hand, we are specifically hiring retired personnel of armed forces on lucrative positions.”

Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Ali Muhammad Khan said the basic question is about officials working on deputation in Nadra and added no official of armed forces, including Army, Navy and Air Force, was working in the authority on deputation. He again suggested that a fresh question should be submitted over the specific issue of rehiring retired armed forces personnel.

At this, the JI senator stressed that he had sought details about positions and perks of serving and retired officials of armed forces working in Nadra. “Why don't you admit that you have hired dozens of retired armed forces personnel and you don’t want to take their names in the House,” he asked

The minister said the armed forces defend this country and were responsible for the country’s security and he was surprised what can be the reason for such hate. “We are ready to give you the data…We will give you the answer.”

At this, Rabbani rose to ask State Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Ali Muhammad Khan, who was to reply to the questions, to deny or confirm that these 15 people in civilian institutions -- the DG ANF, ERRA chairman, Naya Pakistan Housing Authority head, PIA chairman, NDC member, Economic Adviser Council member, Wapda chairman, ASF director, Suparco director, NDMA head, FPSC member and CAA director — were from the armed forces. “We are not against the armed forces but are against this concept of militarisation of the civilian authority. We are standing with Pakistan’s armed forces as far as their role defined in the Constitution is concerned but against the militarisation of the civilian institutions,” he maintained.

The state minister emphasised that they should stop giving them lectures on the civil-military balance and noted his (Rabbani’s) party ex-chairman and prime minister was the first civilian martial law administrator. He said even PPP leader and then prime minister Benazir Bhutto relied on Major-Gen (retd) Naseerullah Khan Babar to run the Ministry of Interior.

The minister continued that each of those 15 postings had its reasons and added that uniformed personnel were there because their expertise was needed in ANF, CAA and National Disaster Management Authority and they met the criteria. He called for desisting from this hate-based politics. “The military belongs to Pakistan, they are citizens of this country. They are not outsiders. And after serving 25-30 years and always ready to defend the country even at the cost of their lives, are serving because of having the required expertise. I can name 1,500 institutions where civil bureaucracy and civilians are serving,” he said.

The leader of the House decried the fact that the matter was being twisted and the opposition was focusing on the military though a specific answer had been provided. The Senate will now meet again on Friday morning.