Parliamentary Oversight of Security Sector

PILDAT, in association with the Geneva Centre of Democratic

Control of Armed Forces – DCAF, held the launching ceremony of Urdu

Translation of Handbook on Parliamentary Oversight of the Security Sector on

February 25, 2005 at Hotel Best Western Islamabad.

The handbook in English

language was prepared by Geneva Centre for Democratic Control of Armed

Forces – DCAF and the Inter-Parliamentary Union – IPU (of which Pakistan is

a member) so that it can act as a concise and accessible guide offering a

comprehensive set of practices and mechanisms which might shape Parliaments

contribution to security sector. In order to make this handbook and its

content more accessible for the benefit of Pakistani Parliament and

Parliamentarians, PILDAT, in keeping with its mission of strengthening

democracy and democratic institutions, prepared and published an Urdu

Version of the Handbook in association with DCAF.

At the occasion of the

launching of Urdu edition by PILDAT, in association with DCAF, a Roundtable

Discussion was also organised on the topic of “How can Parliament and

Parliamentary Committees in Pakistan engage in Oversight of the Security

Sector: Challenges and Opportunities.”

The launching ceremony and the

roundtable discussion were chaired by Senator Nisar A. Memon, Chairman

Senate of Pakistan’s Standing Committee on Defence and Defence Production (PML).

Mr. Philip H. Fluri, Deputy Director DCAF and Mr. Arnold Luethold, Senior

Fellow DCAF presented an overview of the book and shared their thoughts on

the topic of Parliamentary Oversight of the Security Sector: Lessons, Tools

and Techniques. Speakers of the roundtable discussion included Lt. Gen. (retd.)

Talat Masood, Analyst; Senator Farhatullah Babar, Member of Senate Standing

Committee on Defence and Defence Production (PPPP), Mr. Sartaj Aziz, Former

Federal Minister for Foreign Affairs & Finance (PML-N), Senator Prof.

Khurshid Ahmad, Chairman Institute of Policy Studies and Parliamentary

Leader MMA and Senator S. M. Zafar, Chairman Senate Committee on Human

Rights (PML).

Participants at the roundtable

discussion included leading Senators and MNAs from treasury and opposition

benches, former military generals, representatives of development agencies

and the media. The newly-appointed interns with the Senate Committee on

Defence & Defence Production (under a Parliamentary Internship Programme

implemented by PILDAT and supported by USAID) also participated in the

roundtable discussion as observers.

Edition

Senator Nisar A. Memon,

formally launched the Urdu edition of the handbook through untying the

ribbon at the start.

Mr. Ahmed Bilal Mehboob,

Executive Director of PILDAT, formally welcomed the Chairperson and

distinguished panel of speakers and the participants. He briefly spoke about

PILDAT’s association with DCAF which started at Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia in

2002. PILDAT, due to its interest in strengthening democracy and democratic

institutions, sought to partner with DCAF in the area of building

parliamentary oversight of the security sector in Pakistan. PILDAT was happy

to bring out the Urdu edition of the handbook prepared by DCAF for the aid

of Pakistani Parliament and Parliamentarians, he added, and also sought to

deepen the civil-military dialogue necessary for improving civil-military

relations and fixing the equation of civil and military in the country for

strengthening of democracy. He said that Parliament, being premium

institution of a country, has the right and responsibility of oversight of

all sectors including defence and security. This principle is recognised in

Pakistan as well and is at the heart of the committee system of Parliament

in Pakistan, he said. There is a need, however, to exercise the right of

oversight prudently and effectively and the handbook provides international

best practises on the issue to learn from.

Mr. Mehboob invited Senator Nisar Memon to chair the session and begin its

proceedings.

Senior Research Fellow, DCAF

Mr. Luethold thanked PILDAT for

translating the handbook into Urdu and said that it was a great moment for

him to be a part of the launching of Urdu translation of handbook with such

a participation of Pakistani Parliamentarians. He believed that Pakistan

offers itself on many grounds as an example to the Islamic World: it is the

first country of the Organisation of Islamic Countries (OIC) to have

translated this handbook into its national language; it has a very intense

debate on democracy and an intense interaction on civil military relations

in the country and it is also a country with freedom of information laws.

PILDAT, he said, is an ideal partner for DCAF in this country as a

civil-society organisation dedicated to strengthening democracy and

committed to improving civil-military equation. As PILDAT, DCAF also seeks

to promote transparency and accountability. Good governance, he held, makes

valuable contribution through peace and prosperity and DCAF’s objective is

to support interested parties in improving governance in defence and the

security sector. Pakistan is one of the few countries of OIC who have

defence committees of Parliament. DCAF will try to connect these committees

to a larger debate on this issue in the world, he said.

The handbook carries certain important messages, said Mr. Luethold. Firstly,

in a democracy, all activities of a government are of relevance for

Parliament. Secondly, Armed forces are part of the ruled and not of ruler;

they are subject to the political rule of the Parliament which helps limit

their potential use and misuse. Thirdly, dialogue is essential in this area

while trust and confidence-building is necessary between Parliament and the

security sector, he said.

The security sector is generally difficult to oversee as secrecy laws hinder

efforts of transparency, said Mr. Luethold. In many cases, however, this

secrecy is unnecessary and often it limits parliamentary oversight.

Generally absence of freedom of information laws also creates a hindrance in

transparency but Pakistan does not have that issue. Skill is another

requirement for Parliament and Parliamentarians to engage in oversight of

the security sector, he added. Parliament generally lacks time and the

knowledge to do so. Another issue is that international security cooperation

does not always work in creating transparency at home. It is also wrong to

perceive military as an adversary in establishing avenues of Parliamentary

oversight of security sector. Military or the security sector should favour

their integration as they should have nothing to hide. However, oversight of

security sector becomes a real challenge in the presence of these issues,

not only in Pakistan but also for developed democracies, he analysed. The

handbook offers a number of suggestions to overcome these issues based on

international best practises rather than providing a concrete recipe. DCAF

believes that it can learn many things from Pakistan and we would like to

cooperate with PILDAT and other institutes in this regard, he said.

Role of Parliamentarians in security sector oversight means that

Parliamentarians have a role in review cycle. Clear terms of reference for

committees and their functions are required for this role. But effective

Parliamentary involvement and oversight of security sector demands that

executive also has an effective control over the security sector. Several

countries of the OIC, however, do not even have ministers of defence in

place, he added.

Mr. Luethold reiterated that DCAF is pleased to present an Urdu edition of

the handbook in association with PILDAT. PILDAT, in almost no time, has

translated, printed and made the handbook available to Pakistani Parliament

and Parliamentarians and we congratulate PILDAT for that, he said. The

availability of handbook in Urdu, however, is not an end in itself but there

is ground to be covered in terms of preparation and sensitisation of

Parliamentarians and Parliamentary committees for use of this handbook to

achieve the objective of parliamentary oversight of the security sector, he

said.

Mr. Philip Fluri

Deputy Director DCAF

Introducing the

book as its editor, Mr. Fluri said that the book took a long time in

preparation because it covers a simple subject and simple books are more

difficult to write than difficult books. The handbook went through many

committees, workshops and three years of work before it was finalised. There

is a lot of international experience in this book, and Secretary General of

IPU was a co-editor, he said. The effort put into this book, however, has

been met with enthusiasm and it has so far been translated in 30 different

languages and 60,000 copies of it have been distributed around the world, he

informed. DCAF is very pleased by the launching of Urdu version as it is

very well aware of role of Parliament in oversight of security sector in

Pakistan and the role Pakistan can play for the Islamic world in this

regard, he said.

The first focus of the book is on Parliamentarians. It provides good

practices from established democracies in a comparative manner. The second

focus of the book is for everyone who needs to know about the work of

Parliament in a democracy; hence it is useful for scholars, media, military

and the civil society. Main message of the handbook is that oversight can

only work if there is division of labour in a society, he added. It is

heartening to note that in Parliamentary committees relating to defence,

this book has come to be the reference point on best practises around the

world.

Mr. Fluri said that Armed Forces need to be controlled; not only because

they are subservient to public representatives but because good governance

is not possible without that. The recent Human Development Report of UNDP

says that sustainable development is not possible if pockets of state exist

within the state. Transparency and ownership are necessary and the message

of this book is that only if we have transparency, we have empowerment of

Parliament and resultantly, the public.

Throwing light on the role of DCAF, Mr. Fluri said that the organisation

trains Parliamentary staffers and has also been publishing studies on

individual aspects of Parliamentary oversight of intelligence and of police

reforms, etc. DCAF will be very happy to make these available to Pakistani

Parliament and Parliamentarians as well, he offered. As a non-profit

organisation, DCAF is willing to help in its areas of focus but you need to

help DCAF by asking for what is required, he said. In the end, Mr. Fluri

thanked PILDAT for its cooperation and thanked Parliamentarians for

accepting DCAF’s gift in the shape of this handbook.

Chairman Senate Committee on Defence and Defence Production (PML)

Session Chair

Mr. Nisar Memon

congratulated DCAF and IPU for sharing this book in English for the benefit

of Parliament. He also congratulated DCAF on the achievements of printing

this book in 30 different languages and 60,000 copies. He thanked PILDAT for

organising the translation of this book and bridging this gap for Pakistani

Parliament and Parliamentarians. As a new Parliamentarian, he said, he has

seen PILDAT, since October 2002, acting as formal link for all the

legislators in Pakistan; as well as their link with the society and with the

government. PILDAT has not just been a contact but an educated contact

providing education and training to Parliamentarians on various crucial

subjects and issues. Today PILDAT is venturing into an extremely challenging

area; challenging because of the geopolitical development that took place in

this region as well as political history of Pakistan. This, in my view, is

the most appropriate time to talk about this challenging issue of control of

defence sector by the Parliament, he said, adding that he would reserve his

comments as the chair of the session till the end of panel discussion.

Mr. Memon invited panellists to share their views on the topic of “How can

Parliament and Parliamentary Committees in Pakistan engage in Oversight of

the Security Sector: Challenges and Opportunities” in the allotted time.