National Security Council (Pakistan)
Template:Short description Template:Infobox government agency
The National Security Council (Template:Langx) (reporting name: NSC) is a federal institutional and consultative body chaired by the prime minister of Pakistan as its chairman. The NSC is a principal forum that is mandated for considering national security and foreign policy matters with the senior national security advisers and Cabinet ministers.<ref name=PILDT /> The idea and inception of National Security Council was first conceived in 1969 under the President Yahya Khan, its functions were to advise and assist the president and prime minister on national security and foreign policies.
The National Security Council was re-created by then-President and former General Pervez Musharraf in April 2004 under the National Security Council Act. Although, the NSC remains to as a statutory body, the National Security Council is not active since 2008, and the Cabinet Committee on National Security is fulfilling the role and purpose of the NSC.<ref name="Pakistan Institute of Legislative Development and Transparency (PILDT)"/> The first National Security Adviser was Tariq Aziz who was appointed in 2004 and was preceded by Major-General (retired) Mahmud Durrani in 2008.<ref name="Pakistan Institute of Legislative Development and Transparency (PILDT)"/> Since Durrani's deposing by Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gillani in 2009, there has been no appointed new NSC adviser since then.<ref name="Pakistan Institute of Legislative Development and Transparency (PILDT)">Template:Cite web</ref> The NSC was abandoned by the government of Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), with a unified confirmations from the Parliament, and its functions has been taken under control by the Defence Cabinet Committee as of 2009.<ref name="PILDT">Template:Cite web</ref>
The council was revived under Nawaz Sharif, who presides over meetings of the council when there is an emergency, such as hostilities between India and Pakistan, or a chance to discuss events related to the insurgency.<ref name="tribune.com.pk">Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Structure
Former Constitution Basis
The Constitution of Pakistan in the past provided for the National Security Council. However, the provision was repealed by the 18th Amendment.
Permanent Officiates
The membership position does not depend on the will of the chairman, who is the elected Prime Minister of Pakistan.<ref name="Defence Journal"/> Depending on the agenda of the meeting, other concerned persons are also invited in the meeting of the NSC.<ref name="Defence Journal">Template:Cite web</ref>
| Ex-Officio members and permanent officials | Public office and Statutory |
|---|---|
| Chairman of the National Security Council | Prime Minister of Pakistan |
| Secretary | Federal Secretary National Security Division |
| Advisor | National Security Advisor |
| Military Advisor | Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee |
| Intelligence Advisor | DG Inter-Services Intelligence DG Intelligence Bureau |
| Statutory Attendees | Minister of Defence Minister of Foreign Affairs Minister of Interior Minister of Finance Minister of Law and Justice |
| Military Attendees | Chief of Army Staff Chief of Air Staff Chief of Navy Staff |
| Additional attendees | Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister Defence Secretary of Pakistan Interior Secretary of Pakistan Finance Secretary of Pakistan Attorney General of Pakistan Ambassador to the United Nations Leader of the Opposition |
The usual cabinet-level meetings at the NSC takes the following agenda and members of the following authorities are usually invited:
Current
- National Command Authority (NCA)
- Cabinet Committee on National Security (C2NS)
- Economic Coordination Committee (ECC)
Former
- Executive Committee of the Space Research Council (ECSRC) — deactivated since 1985.
Functions
The Council serves as a forum for consultation for the president and the federal government on matters of national security including the sovereignty, integrity, defence and security of the State and crisis management in general. It may also formulate recommendations to the president and the federal government in such matters.
National Security Advisers
History
Inception: 1969–1971
The Pakistan military has been sending many recommendations for the establishment of the National Security Council as akin and counterpart to the American National Security Council.<ref name="PILDT" /> A comprehensive report on NSC was written and submitted by the Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral S.M. Ahsan in 1968.<ref name="PILDT" /> Admiral Ahsan submitted his handwritten report to President Yahya Khan's staff in Islamabad in 1969 and emphasized support for the establishment of the military dominated national security council composed of senior civil and military officials who would advise the government on national security issues and propose strategies to overcome the challenges involving the foreign policy matters.<ref name="PILDT" /> The proposal was forwarded to President Office, and then to President Yahya Khan with strong recommendations for its approval.<ref name="PILDT" />
In 1969, President Yahya Khan established the National Security Council, after signing and issuing the presidential decree to establish this consultative institution. Major-General Ghulam Omar was appointed NSC's first secretary and was posted at the General Headquarters (GHQ) to perform operations of NSC under President Yahya Khan.<ref name="PILDT" /> The NSC secretariat was part of the President Office and the Chief Martial Law Administrator (CMLA) and was directly under the control of the military establishment which then-functioned under President Yahya Khan's staff.<ref name="PILDT" />
The NSC secretariat was highly unpopular in public and political circles of Pakistan, and it quickly gained notoriety in civil society due to its involvement in political and civilian affairs.<ref name="PILDT" /> The NSC secretariat did not figure in the decision-making of the military government because President Yahya Khan ran his government administration as personalized enterprise relaying heavily on his close and trusted military and bureaucratic advisers.<ref name="PILDT" /> The NSC Secretary, Major-General Ghulam Omar, was less focused on national issues whilst kept his interest in combat development. The NSC Secretariat under Yahya Khan was only a paper organization.<ref name="PILDT" />
The Genesis: 1985–1999
| Participants in debates | Cadre/Office | Vote | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nawaz Sharif<ref name="Defence Journal, 2000">Template:Cite web</ref> | Prime Minister | Template:Tick | Voted and Ordered tests |
| Sartaj Aziz<ref name="Defence Journal, 2000" /> | Finance Minister | Template:Xmark | Opposed but later retraced. |
| Mushahid Hussain<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> | Information Minister | Template:Tick | First to propose in favor of tests |
| Gohar Ayub | Foreign Minister | Template:Tick | |
| Ishaq Dar<ref name="Stanford University Press">Khan, Feroz Hassan (2012). Eating grass the making of the Pakistan's atomic bomb. Palo Alto: Stanford University Press. Template:ISBN.</ref> | Commerce Minister | Template:Tick | Support in favor of tests |
| Shamshad Ahmad<ref name="Defence Journal, 2000" /> | Foreign Secretary | Template:Tick | |
| Gen Jehangir Karamat<ref name="Defence Journal, 2000" /> | Chairman Joint Chiefs Chief of army staff |
Template:Tick | Spoke in favor but left decision on Sharif |
| Adm. Fasih Bokhari<ref>Ahmad Noorani (October 11, 2011). "Why Admiral Bokhari is a favourite of Zardari, rejected by Nawaz". The News International. Retrieved 18 May 2012.</ref> | Chief of Naval Staff | Template:Xmark | Opposed tests on moral ground |
| ACM PQ Mehdi<ref name="Defence Journal, 2000" /> | Chief of Air Staff | Template:Tick | Supported and provide logistics<ref name="THe Nation, 2009">Template:Cite news</ref> |
| Dr.Abdul Qadeer Khan<ref name="Defence Journal, 2000" /> | Senior scientist at KRL | Template:Tick | Debated and proposed tests |
| Dr.Ishfaq Ahmad<ref name="Defence Journal, 2000" /> | Senior scientist at PAEC | Template:Tick | Supported in favor tests |
| Dr.Samar Mubarakmand<ref name="Defence Journal, 2000" /> | Senior scientist at PAEC | Template:Tick | Debated in favor of tests |
| Munir Ahmad Khan<ref name="Defence Journal, 2000" /> | Senior scientist at PAEC | Template:Tick | Debated in favor of tests |
| Ahmad Kamal<ref name="CNN Pakistan Bureau">Template:Cite news</ref> | Representative to UN | Template:Tick | Diplomatic in favor of tests |
| Javed HashmiTemplate:Rp<ref name="Sager Publication, Hashmi, 2005">Template:Cite book</ref> | Environmental Minister | Template:Tick | Debated in favor of tests |
The concept of National Security Council as a bridge of stabilizing the civil-military relations has always been favoured by the military spectrum of Pakistan since 1971.<ref name="Pakistan Institute of Legislative Development and Transparency (PILDT)" /> In 1973, Pakistan military has sent repeated recommendations of peculiar structure of the NSC in which senior military commanders of Pakistan Armed Forces are ensured a seat at the table.<ref name="Pakistan Institute of Legislative Development and Transparency (PILDT)" /> The proposal was met with heated criticism in the state parliament and Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto instead issued a white paper on Higher Defence Organisations (HDO) in May 1976, outlining the institutional arrangements for dealing with defence and security affairs. This led the ultimate creation of the Defence Committee of the Cabinet (DCC) which has the mandate of responsibility of national defence rested with the prime minister. The DCC conveys matters to other important organisations involved in the national security decision-making on security affairs included the Ministry of Defence (MoD), the JS HQ of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee and its Chairman, the Chiefs of Staff of the Pakistan Armed Forces.<ref name="Pakistan Institute of Legislative Development and Transparency (PILDT)" />
After the enactment of the martial law by chief of army staff General Zia-ul-Haq in 1977, the DCC had remained active. After holding successful referendum, followed by non-partisan general elections in 1985, President General Zia-ul-Haq authored and inserted Article 152-A to the Constitution through the Revival of the Constitution Order (RCO), in March 1985.<ref name="Pakistan Institute of Legislative Development and Transparency (PILDT)" /> This led the establish a National Security Council for accommodating the high-ranking military leadership in policy making.<ref name="Pakistan Institute of Legislative Development and Transparency (PILDT)" /> The NSC was empowered to "make recommendations relating to the issue of a Proclamation of Emergency under Article 232, security of Pakistan and any other matter of national importance that may be referred to it by the President in consultation with the Prime Minister."<ref name="Pakistan Institute of Legislative Development and Transparency (PILDT)" />
The NSC was opposed by most political circles and it had to be dropped as a part of the deal with the Parliament to get the parliamentary approval for the revised version of the Revival of the Constitution Order (RCO) as Eighth Amendment to the Constitution of Pakistan, in October 1985.<ref name="Pakistan Institute of Legislative Development and Transparency (PILDT)" /> The NSC was dissolved by Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto in 1993 and reactivated the DCC operationalize in its place.<ref name="Pakistan Institute of Legislative Development and Transparency (PILDT)" />
From 1998–99, there were only two NSC meetings took place which were chaired by the Prime Minister Sharif; first occasion when Sharif ordered Pakistan's nuclear tests in response to India's tests, as part of his tit-for-tat policy.<ref name="United States Institute of Peace">Template:Cite book</ref> At the NSC cabinet meeting, the Pakistani government, military, scientific, and civilian officials were participating in a debate, broadening, and complicating the decision-making process.<ref name="United States Institute of Peace" /> Although, General Karamat debated towards presenting the national security and military point of view, the final decision was left on Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's say.<ref name="United States Institute of Peace" /> After the decision was made, General Karamat was notified of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's decision and asked the military to be stand-by orders. After providing the joint military logistics, the nuclear tests were eventually carried out on 28 May 1998, as Chagai-I, and on 30 May 1998 as codename: Chagai-II.<ref name="The Nation, 1998">Template:Cite news</ref> As dawn broke over the Chagai mountains, Pakistan became the world's seventh nuclear power.<ref name="Yale University Press">Template:Cite book</ref>
Secondly, the NSC meeting took place during the heights of the Kargil War in 1999. Empowerment of the NSC at the bureaucratic level was the primary issue that led to the forced relieve of Chairman Joint Chiefs General Jehangir Karamat in 1998.<ref name="Tribune India,1998">Template:Cite news</ref> In an absence of the forum, the upheavals in civil–military relations led to the dismissal of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in 1999 when he tried to dismissed then-Chairman Joint Chiefs Pervez Musharraf.<ref name="Brookings Institution Press, 2004">Template:Cite book</ref>
Reconstruction and developments: 2004–2008
After staging a coup d'état against the government of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in 1999, Chairman joint chiefs Pervez Musharraf announced the establishment of six member national security council in his first television speech. Through a presidential act, the concept of NSC was formally established under an order of the chief executive on 30 October 1999.<ref name="APH Pub. Corp.">Template:Cite book</ref> The presidential order also led the establishment of the National Reconstruction Bureau (NRB) as a think tank.<ref name="Pakistan Institute of Legislative Development and Transparency (PILDT)" /> Although NRB gained quick constitutional establishment in 2000 the NSC's constitutional establishment did not really take off due to political consensus over the establishment of this institution. Finally in 2004, Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz presented the National Security Council through an Act of Parliament and succeeded in constitutionally establishing the NSC for the first time in April 2004. Originally the NSC bill proposed that the NSC would also deal with the "matters relating to democracy, governance, and inter-provincial harmony."<ref name="Pakistan Institute of Legislative Development and Transparency (PILDT)" /> This sentence was later controversially replaced by President Musharraf with "crisis management" without explaining its operational.<ref name="Pakistan Institute of Legislative Development and Transparency (PILDT)" /> President and Chief of Army Staff General Pervez Musharraf created the office in Aiwan-e-Sadr, and appoint civil bureaucrat Tariq Aziz as the first National Security Advisor.<ref name="Pakistan Institute of Legislative Development and Transparency (PILDT)" /> According to PILDT, since its reestablishment, Musharraf conveyed very few national security meetings, and most meetings were conducted to discuss political situations only.
He resigned from the post of NSC secretariat when Musharraf resigned from presidency on 18 August 2008. He was succeeded by Mahmud Ali Durrani as the second National Security Advisor, directly reporting to the Prime minister Secretariat. Durrani was notably deposed by the prime minister Yousaf Raza Gillani in January 2009 for "not consulting the Prime Minister while giving statements on foreign relation matters". The matter in question was the acceptance by the Government of Pakistan of the Pakistani nationality of the sole surviving terrorist Ajmal Kasab, who was involved in the 2008 Mumbai attacks and was in the custody of the Mumbai police.
Abolition and suspension (2008–2009)
After the incident, Prime Minister Gillani vowed to abolish the National Security Council in February 2009.<ref name="Pakistan Institute of Legislative Development and Transparency (PILDT)" /> The NSC remains to stay as statue on the constitution, however, the NSC secretariat is not active since 2008, but instead the Defence Committee of the Cabinet is re-activated in its place by the current government.<ref name="Pakistan Institute of Legislative Development and Transparency (PILDT)" />
Since 2009, there has been no appointed new NSC adviser and no national security meetings have been conducted since then.<ref name="Pakistan Institute of Legislative Development and Transparency (PILDT)" /> Its operations and mandate has been integrated to the DCC meeting, nine occurring since 2009.<ref name="Pakistan Institute of Legislative Development and Transparency (PILDT)" />
Restorative status (2013–present)
Upon conclusion of the general elections in 2013, the PML(N)'s strategists indicated the restoration of the NSC to the news media. On immediate basis, Prime Minister Sharif appointed Sartaj Aziz as National Security Advisor (NSA).<ref name="Bloomberg, 2013">Template:Cite news</ref> On 9 September 2013, Prime Minister Sharif proposed that dialogue with the Pakistani military would create a civil-military partnership, putting the military and an elected government on the same page for the first time in Pakistan's history.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> After reconstituting the Cabinet Committee on National Security (C2NS), with military gaining representation in the country's politics, the NSC came into effect as an influential policy institution.<ref name="Harvard University Press">Template:Cite book</ref>
Decision came from Prime Minister Sharif to reconstitute the NSC to improve coordination between the civil and military institutions in order to deal with a nagging far-right insurgency that has killed and maimed thousands of Pakistanis over the last few years.<ref name="Express Tribune, 2013" />
According to the political scientist and civic-military relations expert, Aqil Shah, Sharif finally did what exactly former chairman joint chiefs General Karamat had called for in 1998.<ref name="Harvard University Press" /> Since then, the NSC meetings with Prime Minister Sharif have been taking place frequently.<ref name="tribune.com.pk" />
See also
Sources
Additional works on NSC
Constitutional analysis
Bibliography
External links
Template:Cabinet Secretariat of the Government of Pakistan Template:Cabinet of Pakistan Template:Pakistani intelligence agencies Template:Pakistan Armed Forces Template:Pakistan topics
- Political history of Pakistan
- National security councils
- 1969 establishments in Pakistan
- 1972 disestablishments in Pakistan
- 1985 establishments in Pakistan
- 1990 disestablishments in Pakistan
- 2004 establishments in Pakistan
- 2008 disestablishments in Pakistan
- 2013 establishments in Pakistan
- History of the foreign relations of Pakistan
- Pakistan federal departments and agencies
- Pakistani intelligence agencies