A white-wash!

Pakistan's national security policy : A wish list, a white-wash or a vision statement?

The quote about old Prussia - that it was not a country with an army but an army with a country - is true about Pakistan today. Their first national security policy, redacted version of which was released by Prime Minister Imran Khan who has also written the foreword to it, reinforces the truism.

But then, we in India don't have much to brag about. Despite repeated attempts to draft one, India still doesn't have a national security doctrine. Pakistan has one, approved by the cabinet last month.

Drafted by a committee headed by NSA Moeed Yusuf, the document, which will be reviewed every year and by every new government, reinforces most of what India's strategic thinkers have been saying about Pakistan - that the country continues to be obsessed with India. India is mentioned more than any other nation - 16 times to be precise in 62 pages - with Jammu and Kashmir dispute being mentioned as the "at the core of our bilateral relationship", something which India does not agree with.

A separate section on Jammu and Kashmir asserts that "Pakistan remains steadfast in its moral, diplomatic, political and legal support to the people of Kashmir until they achieve their right to self-determination guaranteed by the international community as per UNSC resolutions". Though India's actions of Aug 2019 are denounced, surprisingly there is no call being made on India to restore the special status of Jammu and Kashmir.

The document does recognise that "the most acute form of efforts to undermine stability and national harmony of a society is terrorism". The Indian leadership might remain sceptical about the Pakistan's protestations over it but the document does reveal the deep discomfort that lies within the Pakistan state about the Frankenstein monster it has created and is now forced to go to bed with. "The employment of terrorism has become a preferred policy choice for hostile actors in addition to soft intrusion through various non-kinetic means", says the document. "Terrorism is also being used to disrupt and delay development initiatives". India would dismiss it as the devil quoting the scriptures but the document claims that "Pakistan pursues a policy of zero tolerance for any groups involved in terrorist activities on its soil". As former deputy chief of the Indian Army, Lt Gen C Anandakrishnan (Retd) observed, "The self-congratulatory statements indicate that Pakistan is unlikely to change its approach towards terrorism".

The document has been made use of by its authors to draw international attention to domestic developments within India. "The rise of Hindutva-driven politics in India is deeply concerning and impacts Pakistan's immediate security. The political exploitation of a policy of belligerence towards Pakistan by India's leadership has led to the threat of military adventurism and non-contact warfare to our immediate east". There is concern expressed over "growing Indian arms build-up, facilitated by access to advanced technologies and exceptions in the in the non-proliferation rues....."

All the same, the authors have been cautious not to name or blame India's hand - as is wont to by certain fringe elements within the Pakistan security establishment - behind certain terror threats faced by the Pakistan state. On the contrary, it does protest to a deep desire for peace with India. Yet it accuses India of harbouring "hegemonic designs" and, for a document that is supposed to be vision statement, resorts to raising petty tactical-level accusations such as "ceasefire violations on India. As a former Indian Coast Guard chief observed, "This is a very amateurish document, as if prepared by a junior military officer and is more a wish list than a pragmatic strategic policy based on which a definite governance intervention can be modelled". 

Over the last seven-odd decades, Pakistan had kept its security policy tied to its strategic alliance with the US. Even after most of the western military pacts such as SEATO and CENTO were disbanded, Pakistan had remained the keystone to the US's central Asian and south Asian strategic policies. Thus even at the height of the ideological cold war, Pakistan could, through deft diplomatic manoeuvres, maintain cordial ties with both the capitalist west and the communist China and could even dramatically effect a change in the global strategic order by facilitating a rapprochement between the two.

- R Prasannan in The Week

My take

It's a whitewash for sure. Pakistan needs to turn over a new leaf. This was a golden opportunity to begin afresh and it would have only been possible if they dumped the cornerstone of their foreign policy of Indophobia and concentrated on reviving their economy! But one can't expect a shallow and frivolous personality like Imran Khan to think out of the box and tackle problems head on! And in the unexpected chance of him wanting to do so, will the GHQ permit him?

Tailpiece.

Got up around 6, the chores, changed bed-linen and was ready by a quarter to 10.

It was a quiet Thursday.