Searching for the Holy Grail of National Security?
By Karamatullah K. Ghori
Toronto, Canada

 

The National Security Policy document, approved by Imran’s cabinet and released last week, with so much grit and elan leaves pundits pondering over its many blanks that need to be filled.

To begin with, let’s put it in the proper perspective of timeline. This is not the first time—as the government and its tribunes are claiming—that a national security document of this nature has been unveiled in Pakistan. Back in 2014, when terrorists spilled the blood of innocent children at Peshawar’s Army Public School, the then government of Nawaz Sharif had feigned to show its angst, and concern, by coming up, in cohorts with the ‘Establishment,’ with a similar National Security document. But that piece of spadework to deal with the menace of terrorism was entirely home-centric. In other words, its thrust was pegged on dealing with internal challenges to the nation’s security environments.

This latest initiative of IK’s government is said to be more broad-based. It addresses the challenges in a broader perspective, both domestic and external, and doesn’t stop just there. Its canvas also includes recommendations and remedies to tackle the huge load of these challenges as demanded by circumstances. That’s why the government is hailing it as the first of its kind, a novel attempt at sharing with the people of Pakistan the nitty gritty of what faces them and their country, at both internal and external fronts.

However, it would be naïve of any observer, or pundit, of the Pakistani scene to overlook the not-so-subtle irony of the timing of the release of this ground-breaking national document. It has come to the fore in tandem with the government’s success in ramming its IMF-friendly ‘mini-budget’ through the national legislature.

It would be unfair to dismiss the hue and cry emanating from the opposition camp at this mini budget as mere posturing or chest-beating. Eminent and reputable economists have found huge holes in this contrived budget that are calculated to hurt the common man. The government’s own finance czar, Shaukat Tareen, has publicly acknowledged that the need to come up with this secondary budget, in the same fiscal year, was dictated by IMF’s crude arm-twisting. There’s a broad consensus in the economic community that what’s being hailed as a ‘victory’ of the government will unload a torrent of fresh taxes on an already tax and inflation-oppressed people of Pakistan.

Granted that the national security document puts pivotal emphasis on economic self-sufficiency of Pakistan. But this is a gospel truth known to all and sundry. It doesn’t take an economic wizard or genius to pinpoint that without economic autarky, or self-reliance, no country in the world can ensure its security.

There are classic examples, replete in contemporary history of our world, to vouch for the absolute veracity of this maxim. Soviet Union, a military colossus, was undone because of its Achilles’ heel of economy. The latest example, closer home to Pakistan, is of our dear friendly Turkey. Its intrepid leader, President Erdogan, had carved for himself a reputation for standing up to international, or imperialistic, bullies and call their bluff because of Turkey’s robust economic power and resilience. However, the same fearless and gritty Erdogan is now suing for peace with an imperialist proxy, like Israel, with whom Turkey has had a frayed relationship since 2010—when Israel had attacked a Turkish mercy-mission boat for the besieged people of Gaza and killed ten Turkish aid workers.

Yes, it’s commendable of IK and his national security apparatus to put the spotlight where it should be: on the country’s economic self-sufficiency. Just as no army can think of conquering a land where its back is not protected by a friendly populace, no government should feel secure without a contented people lending their approbation and acclaim to it.

Judged by this yardstick, IK’s government can be seen as playing on a very weak and sticky wicket.

In its three-and-a-half years in power, Imran government’s performance in economic field can be said to be, at best, patchy and unsatisfactory. It may have done some right things to strengthen the base of economy and its basic infrastructure. But its appalling failure to arrest the inflationary spiral continues to be its Achilles’ heel. A common man is not supposed to be moved, or impressed, by his government’s economic performance at the macro-level; his concern is at the micro-level. A common man’s first and foremost concern is to ensure at least two square meals a day for himself and his family. He judges a government's friendliness, or lack of concern with his problems predominantly, if not entirely, by its track record of common man’s welfare, or lack of it.

Measured with this yardstick, IK has more minuses than pluses on his government’s score card. A common man’s economic and social viability is at a constantly worrying threshold. It’s not only bread and butter that’s becoming increasingly beyond the reach of the common man but the overall index of his and his family’s well-being is in the jaws of an inflationary monster, threatening to devour them.

To make matters worse—for both the people and those with pretensions to lead them—there's a common sense of a deeply flawed system of justice working against the common man.

An ordinary Pakistani is not only overwhelmed by a poorly-delivering economic ambience but also oppressed by a system of justice that, seemingly, friendly to the rich and powerful and hostile to him.

According to public admission by the government’s own spokesmen, on the floor of the National Assembly, there’s a huge, gargantuan, backlog of cases pending, for years, if not decades, in Pakistani courts. Punjab alone is said to have 52,000 cases of people languishing in its jails, while waiting for the completion of litigations against them.

But what is insult upon injury of these ordinary prisoners rotting in dark, dingy and over-crowded cells is the spectacle, they witness day-in and day-out, of the rich and powerful walking free on bails instantly granted by the same courts that have no time to hear years-old cases of a common prisoner. It’s not only just that, but well-heeled criminals are lording over the political landscape of the country and stalking it as potential leaders and PMs. What lesson should an ordinary prisoner draw from the example, say, of a convicted man like Nawaz Sharif. That man, imprisoned under a Supreme Court conviction flew from his coop on a flimsy, contrived, excuse of poor health and has since been making merry in London.

It’s all very impressive to talk of how Pakistan should be navigating in the seas of turmoil threatening its security from abroad. It’s good of the government to share its concerns with the common man how India, for example, has been hatching conspiracies to damage Pakistan’s security along its borders with Afghanistan, for instance.

Yes, every Pakistani, of whatever stature and station in life, wishes to see a strong, prosperous and secured Pakistan. But a strong and impregnable Pakistan can’t be built on vacuous and wobbly policies. A Pakistan without economic and social justice for each one of its citizens would be a vapid and inherently weak Pakistan. A contented populace is the most enduring guarantee to underpin the country’s security, at both home and abroad. That’s a moral of history that must not be overlooked or under-valued by this or any other government to follow in Pakistan. - K_K_ghori@hotmail.com

(The author is a former ambassador and career diplomat)