Democratic Parliamentary Oversight of Defence has begun, but a long way to go VERY IMP REPORT

Democratic and Parliamentary Oversight of Defence has begun, but a long way to go

VERY IMP REPORT
AKRAM ABID
ISLAMABAD

March 21; Pakistan has made important strides on the road to establishing democratic and Parliamentary oversight on defence and national security but there remains a long and arduous struggle for establishing a constitutional equation of Civil-Military relations, believed experts and Members of Parliament, analysts and media representatives at the PILDAT Public Forum on Democratic Oversight of Defence and National Security: An Account of 4 Years. The initiative has to be taken by the Parliament with support from citizens and media.

Speakers at the Forum included Hafiz Tahir Khalil, Bureau Chief, Jang, Senator Mushahid Hussain Syed, Secretary General PML, Senator Farhatullah Babar, Spokesman President of Pakistan and Senator Mian Raza Rabbani, Chairman Parliamentary Committee on National Security.

Hafiz Tahir Khalil said that while other committees of the Parliament are generally open for media coverage, regrettably Defence Committees mostly hold in-camera meetings. He demanded that this should change barring sensitive security issues.

Senator Mushahid Hussain Sayed said that Pakistan has, for the first time, given an institutional response to Pak-US relations. This has defined new rules of the game that the Parliament will discuss and approve. Looking ahead, he recommended that the concept of National Security must be re-defined from a security-specific definition to include important civilian components such as Constitution, Parliament, Political Parties, Judiciary, Education, Food, Energy, etc. He praised the work of the Parliamentary Committee on National Security (PCNS) and recommended that the Committee must be institutionalised. Working to define a comprehensive National Security strategy of Pakistan for every two years should be a major area of focus of the PCNS. Defence purchases and defence equipment should also be part of this strategy.

Senator Farhatullah Babar began by praising the efforts of PILDAT for not only consistently raising the taboo subject of fixing the imbalance in civil-military relations in Pakistan but also presenting its periodic assessments and studies and holding public forums on this taboo issue. Addressing the civil-military imbalance is a dangerous initiative, he said. He said that PILDAT must also study how power has gradually moved from Parliament to and civil Governments to military and military dictators. He said that the coalition Government has taken the initiative of presenting details of the defence budget since 2008 and it is now the responsibility of MPs who should come prepared to review this thoroughly and raise irrefutable points and suggestions. National Command Authority has been put under the Prime Minister which has opened the way for Parliamentary oversight. Another important development is the setting up of Parliamentary Committee on National Security (PCNS). One can disagree with the recommendations of the PCNS and it remains to be seen how much the Government adopts these, but the PCNS has consistently worked to strengthen the Parliament's role. He presented the following recommendations for a Constitutional equation of civil-military relations:

Developing consensus on correcting strategic imbalance in Civil-Military Relations in Pakistan; no Government can attempt to tackle this without the support of political parties, civil society and media
Parliamentarians must utilise all Parliamentary instruments in addressing the issues of Civil-Military relations in Pakistan
MPs and other sectors of society must demand that the Parliament should adopt the Johannesburg Principles on National Security, Freedom of Expression and Access
Addressing the forum, Senator Raza Rabbani said that he does not share the optimism of other speakers that Pakistan is moving towards changing civil-military relations according to the Constitution. The changes that are apparent are cosmetic and due to regional and international scenario. The apparent "progress" is just to let off steam for the moment, he said. When we discuss civil-military imbalance, it is important to understand that this is essentially to change the mindset in which a civilian's patriotism is always suspect and only a uniformed person can grant a certificate of patriotism. According to this mindset, civilians and politicians are not even competent to deal with issues of national security and foreign policy and can not be trusted with it. Disagreeing with Senator Farhatullah Babar in only one instance he said that the levers of power were not changed through ordinances from civil to the military but these changed when the concept of Pakistan was changed from a welfare state to a national security or a garrison state. All earlier Constitutional amendments were to consolidate powers for the military and military rulers. In a crude language, this is a turf war in which functions that have been in the domain of civil and military bureaucracy, now we are asking for Parliament's oversight on those. He said that oversight will bring accountability and transparency in its wake that will go against ideological, institutional political and financial interests also.

Senator Rabbani said that fixing the civil-military imbalance is not an easy task and it requires a change in mindset. With just a change in the situation, we should not assume that we have changed the mindset. Important developments have taken place since March 2008. Military leadership has been called at the bar of the Parliament not just for briefing but for a gruelling question and answer session as well.

He said, however, that just because he is pessimistic, it does not mean he is without hope. The recommendations of the PCNS presented to the Parliament on March 20, 2012 mark a milestone in Pakistan's Parliamentary history signifying that foreign policy, which has been considered a domain of civil and military bureaucracy, now has a collective Parliamentary ownership. These recommendations are open for debate and must be improved. Fixing civil-military imbalance in Pakistan is an issue of the survival of Pakistan and not of partisan interests. There is a long and arduous struggle for establishing a constitutional equation of Civil-Military relations, a change that will yield most painfully, said Senator Rabbani.

In his opening remarks, Mr. Ahmed Bilal Mehboob said that PILDAT has set a tradition of reviewing the performance of various government and Parliamentary forums on democratic and Parliamentary oversight of defence and National Security. PILDAT believes that civilian supremacy in interpreting national interests will only be possible only through effective forums for developing national security policies. Parliament's oversight and accountability of the security sector will serve to strengthen Pakistan's national security and public trust in security institutions. National Security should not be used as a pretext for avoiding accountability.