The basic existence of Pakistan was envisioned by Jinnah as a federal democratic state with a decentralized government in center. But the turn of events made this country into a security state. Due to which, it always had to rely upon a security policy for its very survival. Numerous policies have been formulated at its national level but most of them have been focused on the traditional topic of military strategies. However, the recently announced National Security Policy (2022-2026) is a deviation from it. This policy takes a comprehensive approach to security, anchoring its base in human security and long-lasting economic growth for its citizens.
Human security and prosperous economic growth are words to which Pakistani people are naïve and know little about it. As for human security, NSP (2022-2026) focuses on eradicating extremism, terrorism, crimes and improving gender equality, rule of law as well as providing an efficient justice system. These policies look good as far as we read it in our offices sitting comfortably under ACs, enjoying serene environment, going for a high standard lunch at 1pm and at the end of day everyone goes home happily, but on a pragmatic level, governmental policies seem to be failing and there seems huge cracks in its approach towards tackling the above mentioned issues. We have recently seen a resurgence in extremism both by TTP in erstwhile FATA and Baloch Separatist Groups in Balochistan. Both these groups come with different ideologies and different approaches in different areas, but their recent resurgence poses serious questions such as: Does Afghan Taliban are in anyway related to the recent up rise in terror attacks, since the increase has been felt after 15th August? If the government policies are of such good nature, then why are terror groups making waves again? If we can’t answer these questions, then there’s a clear cut conclusion for us all. If policies appear appealing only in documents and do no good, we are back at square one, that is we are failing, and the lives of our people are not secure. Hence, a lot of work is required as far as human security is concerned, keeping in mind the current condition.
As far as prosperous economic growth is concerned, the socio-economic indicators of Pakistan appear very low. And how do we improve them? It’s by cutting imports and improving exports. Exports can be increased by giving subsidies (not to owners of bug entities as that way the money doesn’t trickle down, but to people at the lower level such as they buy seeds etc. which results not only in economic growth but prevents accumulation of wealth in a few hands too). The increase of exports is also linked with human security as terror and crime produces an unfavorable situation for business. Another tool which can be applied over here is that the government compel big entities (who do a lot of imports and resultantly current account goes to deficit) to do a specific number of exports too (let’s assume 50% of the amount they import, they export as well), so that the current account remains in balance. However, one thing for which the government deserves a lot of appreciation is the expansion of BISP into its EHSAAS program, turning it into one of the world’s largest programs for social welfare and benefitting millions.
Moreover, in the helm of military strategy, NSP has expanded to five fields namely air, water, land, space, and cyber. We may well be on the course in the former three but unfortunately in space and cyber we are lagging way behind especially keeping in mind that our bitter rivals India and Israel growing at a rapid pace. India in the field of space and Israel in Cyber. India’s space rocket Chandaryaan just missed the moon landing in its previous attempt and looks set to make it there in its next try. Apart from this, it has worked on deploying various rockets and satellites in space. As for cyber, Israel appears to be ahead with the top cyber security companies located inside the country namely CyberArk, Argus, and Imperva etc. Israel also maintains one of the very advanced military weapons which again relies on tech-advancement such as its Iron Dome Network. On the other hand, Pakistan is way behind in both these fields because it hasn’t paid enough attention to these. Main example in this regard is SUPARCO (Pakistan Space and Upper Atmosphere Research Commission), the chairman of which has historically been a general from the armed forces with zero expertise in the concerned field. As for cyber, we could not train our youth with modern techniques as we are still stuck with Pentium computers and appear to remain stuck. The dire need of hour is to pay more attention to technology and to offer tech related majors in universities as well as teach basics to all students in schools. FAST university appears to have taken the lead in this regard as they offer various tech related majors, but one university cannot change the fate of a nation. It requires steps at the top level from the government. (This may work well for decreasing current account deficit as remittances increase when freelancers earn money from foreign clients). But our government insists on not staying up-to-date and staying behind. For example, a petition is in place in the Sindh High Court for banning crypto and it has sought an expert opinion from the Ministry of Finance and Ministry of IT on this matter. Now on the other hand, if we see other countries such as India which regulated Cryptocurrencies last month putting up a 30% tax on all forms of earnings from Crypto. Russia is also rumored to have agreed on making cryptocurrencies a legal tender, but no official announcement has been made in this regard till now.
Hence summing it up, NSP seems to be a good way forward but only if it is implemented on a practical level and not if it is left to rot in the cupboards of National Security Council. With the world progressing at such a rapid phase, we might become a distant memory of the past if we don’t keep our pace up.
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