Can the National Security Committee be the platform to hold Inter-Institutional Dialogue?

PILDAT Virtual Forum | December 17, 2020 | 03:00 pm (PST)

Join Live at 03:00 pm (PST) @ YouTube, Facebook and Twitter.

The realization has been growing over the past few years that Pakistan needs some kind of dialogue among the State institutions at the highest level. The underlying thought behind this realization is that various organs and institutions of the State seem to be increasingly encroaching each other’s space. The pitch and frequency of complaints and sometime protests against such perceived or real encroachments have been on the increase lately. In January 2019, the then Chief Justice of Pakistan, Justice Asif Saeed Khosa highlighted the need for such an inter-institutional dialogue amongst the Parliament, Judiciary, the Executive and the top leadership of the military and intelligence agencies and termed trust deficit among different organs of the State, encroachment of one state organ’s domain by the other and the need to discuss larger issues jeopardizing good governance as the chief reasons for the grand dialogue. Please see PILDAT’s analysis of the proposal here.

PILDAT is hosting a Virtual Forum by inviting expert views from the Parliament, Civil Service and the Military to explore whether Pakistan requires an inter-institutional dialogue or grand dialogue (as was proposed by former Chief Justice Asif Saeed Khosa and others) and whether the National Security Committee (NSC), in its current composition, can be the forum where this dialogue can be held.

The Virtual Forum is bringing together following experts:

Mr. Fawad Hasan Fawad, former Secretary to the Prime Minister of Pakistan and a senior civil servant, who has served the Government of Pakistan in senior roles including as the Director General of the Civil Service Academy in a career spanning over 30 years.

General (Retd.) Ehsan-ul-Haq, former Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee between 2005 and 2007, who has also served as the Director General of the ISI and the MI.

Senator Mushahid Hussain Sayed, currently serving as the Chairman of the Senate Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and has earlier served as Chairman of the Senate Standing Committee on Defence and before that as a Federal Minister

Mr. Ahmed Bilal Mehboob, President and founder of PILDAT, will initiate the important conversation on why Pakistan needs an Inter-Institutional Dialogue and what can be its agenda and composition.

Ms. Aasiya Riaz, Joint Director PILDAT will moderate the conversation ranging from questions about the functioning of the National Security Committee (NSC) to the need for the an inter-institutional dialogue in Pakistan.

In 2013, the Defence Committee of the Cabinet (DCC) was reconstituted into the National Security Committee with a new National Security Division (NSD) created to serve as the secretariat of the NSC. It is fashioned after National Security Councils that exist in many other countries around the world but which function as key advisory institutions. The NSC in Pakistan, however, is the principal decision making body on National Security matters. The NSC is chaired by Prime Minister and includes, as members, Federal Ministers of Defence, Foreign Affairs, Interior and Finance, as well as three Services Chiefs and Chairman Joints Chiefs of Staff Committee. Please see PILDAT’s latest report on performance of the National Security Committee in Pakistan.

The Virtual Forum will be broadcast live across PILDAT’s social media pages on YouTube, Facebook and Twitter.

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