NSC approves first-ever National Security Policy

Islamabad: A meeting of the National Security Committee chaired by Prime Minister Imran Khan on Monday approved country’s first ever National Security Policy (NSP) 2022-26.

The NSP will be presented to the cabinet before being officially adopted. A public version of the document would be released in due course.

According to a press release of PM Office, the meeting was attended by Minister for Foreign Affairs Makhdoom Shah Mahmood Qureshi, Minister for Defence Pervaiz Khattak, Minister for Information and Broadcasting Chaudhry Fawad Hussain, Minister for Interior Shaikh Rashid Ahmad, Minister for Finance Shaukat Tarin, Minister for Human Rights Dr Shireen Mazari, Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee, all Services Chiefs, National Security Advisor and senior civil and military officers.

During the meeting, the prime minister emphasized that the security of Pakistan rested in the security of its citizens and reposed confidence that Pakistan was well prepared to meet any internal and external threats.

Terming the NSP’s formulation and approval a historic moment, he noted that the policy must guide all organs of the government to ensure that their efforts were synchronized with the overall direction of the NSP.

He instructed the National Security Adviser to present an implementation progress report to the NSC every month.

Revitalization of the Planning Committee and the expansion of NSC’s Advisory Board was also unanimously approved by the participants during the meeting.

The NSC members also appreciated the National Security Division and all other government departments for this effort.

During the meeting, Pakistan’s first ever National Security Policy (NSP) 2022-2026 was presented for approval by National Security Adviser Dr Moeed Yusuf.

He briefed the participants on the salient features of the NSP and highlighted that Pakistan was shifting to a Comprehensive National Security Framework whereby the ultimate purpose of national security was to ensure the safety, security and dignity of the citizen of Pakistan.

“To ensure this citizen-centric approach to security, the NSP put economic security at the core. A stronger economy would create additional resources that would in turn be judiciously distributed to further bolster military and human security,” the press release added.

The participants were informed that the NSP had been created through a whole-of-government effort over the last seven years, and included extensive consultations among federal government institutions, with all provinces, and with the academia and private sector.

It was highlighted that a detailed implementation framework had been created through which the National Security Division would review progress in collaboration with relevant ministries and departments.

Earlier, tn a tweet, Minister for Information Fawad Chaudhry said that National Security Council (NSC) meeting today approved the country’s first national security policy, which will be presented at a cabinet meeting tomorrow.

نیشنل سیکیورٹی کونسل کے اجلاس نے آج ملک کی پہلی نیشنل سیکیورٹی پالیسی کی منظوری دی ہے، یہ پالیسی کل کابینہ کے اجلاس میں پیش کی جائیگی

— Ch Fawad Hussain (@fawadchaudhry) December 27, 2021

Earlier, PM Imran Khan had summoned the NSC meeting to discuss the current situation in Afghanistan.

The meeting under the chair of the prime minister will be attended by federal ministers and military brass. The committee will discuss the current situation of Afghanistan along with other matters related to national security.

The committee will also be briefed about the overall security situation in the country.

The meeting will be attended by the services chiefs, intelligence officials and civilian leadership.

Senior ministers, including Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid, Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Fawad Chaudhry and National Security Adviser to the PM Moeed Yusuf will be in attendance.

On the other hand, Pakistan recently hosted the 17th Extraordinary Session of the Council of Foreign Ministers of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) on Afghanistan. The session’s goal was to bring Muslim countries on the same wavelength in helping the war-torn country to avert the looming humanitarian crisis.