NSP and NAP
THE immediate cause of National Action Plan (NAP) was a heinous terrorist attack at Army Public School in Peshawar on 16 December 2014.
Its horror, terror and blood of innocent children aplenty, heartlessly spilled shook the country to the core. The instant outcry was no more dithering, procrastination and resignation to eliminate terrorism once for all from the soil of Pakistan.
The urgency was considered overriding thus, 20 points NAP was formulated and approved by Parliament on 24 December at a cracking speed. The plan had two prongs: One was of military dimension and the other one fell in the realm of civil administration.
The first one went into action swiftly and fetched a resounding success, however, the second one followed the same path which marks any national pursuit of ours, even of “do or die” and “now or never” implications.
The NACTA was its architect and was to be strengthened as a central agency as per one of its 20 points to spearhead the anti-terrorism and other related campaigns in the country and the sad commentary is that it is still at an embryonic stage and a non-entity if seen its involvement meaningfully.
The revamping and reforming criminal system was the pivotal point and much to the dismay of all and sundry, it remains untouched so far rather, it has deteriorated further.
The fate of other majority of the points, falling within the purview of civil administration is no less different. Often, it is sarcastically commented upon – NAP at nap and it rises from slumber as of a rude awakening when an ugly occurrence of greater proportions jolts the country.
The notable reasons are timid political will, a happy-go-lucky type attitude, cut throat own self-seeking preferences, incompetence, dysfunctional institutions, corruption, paucity of resources and lack of governance etc.
With such an agonizingly poor past and recent painful experience as of vitally important NAP, one does not find comfort and assurance on any national initiative being undertaken rather, one is tempted to cast aspersions about its efficacy and logical finish thus, same is the case with National Security Policy (NSP), laced with fascinating jargons and phraseology, launched by the PM with ado and fanfare a few days back.
Though it is satisfying to note that the government has taken cognizance of enduring impediments, lying on the route to its implementation however, in the same vein, it is highly discomforting when one sees an overly ambitious or impatient approach.
On one hand, it has been stated that the implementation of NSP would take a whole of government effort, sectoral reforms and synchronization of actions of all state organs if policy objectives set therein, are to be achieved.
On the other hand, the National Security Division has been tasked to review its progress in collaboration with relevant ministries and departments and present a progress report to the National Security Committee every month.
The former aspect is a marathon, painstaking and massive resource and time consuming proposition and latter part seems to be a hurried affair, also propelled by the fact that it is NSP 2022-2026. This speaks volumes about our cursory approach towards national pursuits of even vital importance vis-a-vis an existing functional environment fraught with extreme pitfalls.
This disconnect has the potential to turn an initiative into a scrappy work at colossal national expense in terms of money, time and other ensuing hazardous implications. This amounts to put the cart before the horse.
We definitely need to rationalize it to prevent digressions, capable of causing even greater retrogression than net gain. Fundamentally, a nation rises or falls on the basis of morals and knowledge it possesses.
In the instant NSP, human security is its most important cornerstone. It is an appreciable departure from our earlier approach to define our paradigm of national security.
The rest of its facets hinge upon it because it is the man behind the gun who matters as a proverbial saying goes.
The good morals and knowledge make men capable of undertaking challenging enterprises. As a nation, our morals have plummeted to the lowest ebb and our education system is antithesis of producing a knowledge based society.
In present times, technology-related education is the key to take hold of own rightful share in global economy in order to earn enough money to support a robust national security and a decent living to all citizens of the country.
Out of these two, our moral degeneration is real problem because at first place, we are shy of accepting this reality and secondly, it is long term and we have excessively grown averse to a long and hard course. Instead we prefer taking diet pills.
Moral rearmament is an imperative before successfully attempting a wholesale transformation as intended in this policy.
A responsive justice system is also inextricably linked to human security. This enforces merit and across-the-board accountability, which in turn, raises trust of the people in the country. This spurs them to go to any length to ensure its security.
A morally rearmed nation, a knowledge-based education system and a credible justice system are essential to first achieve human security and then, out of this, a strong national security would spring. It is needless to mention that their implementation would test us over a long haul to the last reservoir of acumen, commitment and sense of purpose.
No quick fixes, stereotype approach and exuberance or fascination as also being seen in the instant case too, would do the job. A step-by-step approach followed by sound evolution may yield rewardingly.
— The writer, a retired Lt Col, is a senior columnist based in Islamabad.
