Pak's new national security policy: old wine in new bottle

Pakistan's New Security Policy is also being called the Bajwa Doctrine, after the country's powerful army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa. (Photo: Reuters)

Pakistan is launching a National Security Policy (NSP) that was drafted over seven years by two prime ministers who held widely divergent views.

Won't there be conflicting goals then?

Not when it comes to defence and India.

Pakistan, in its first-ever National Security Policy (NSP) launched recently by Prime Minister Imran Khan, makes it imperative to deter war and defend the country's territorial integrity and sovereignty at `all costs’ by using all elements of national power.

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Interestingly, it also seeks peace with India, with apparently no hostility for the next 100 years and doesn’t rule out normalisation of trade and economic ties without waiting for a final resolution of the Kashmir issue provided there is progress in talks between the two countries.

Former Indian envoy, Navdeep Singh isn't impressed. He says: ``It’s a lot of words but little action from Pakistan. You can talk about peace and stability but show us the action on containing terror and violence. There is no evidence of it.''

While the 110-page NSP will be classified, what has been made public is 50 odd pages, which is meant to provide an insight into the overall vision and direction of the country's national security.

China's 'all-weather' friend

Much has changed in the last seven years, strategically speaking. From being a staunch US ally, Pakistan is now a Chinese `all-weather’ friend with control over Taliban – the three share a commonality - dislike for India.

Pakistani infiltration into Jammu and Kashmir has gone up since the Taliban seized power in Kabul. Indian security experts talk of the smuggling of small arms and the killing of innocent civilians in Jammu and Kashmir.
Against this backdrop, it is not too difficult to figure out what the NSP – also christened the Bajwa Doctrine, so named after the all-powerful Pakistan serving army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa– has in mind.

After highlighting various challenges to security, the NSP in its major policy guideline says: "Deter war through all elements of national power, while exercising our right to self-defence if war is imposed."

The cardinal policy objective, according to the NSP, is to "defend Pakistan's territorial integrity at all costs" and adds that it was only possible by having the conventional capability and full-spectrum deterrence.

"Deter any aggression by maintaining a cost-effective and adaptive military focused on modernisation and optimisation of force structures to ensure adequate conventional capability and maintain full spectrum deterrence within the precincts of credible minimum nuclear deterrence, without getting involved in an arms race," it said.

Heart of the matter

Then it comes to the point. In an apparent reference to India, it says that "with a regressive and dangerous ideology gripping the collective conscience in our immediate neighbourhood, the prospects of violent conflict have grown immensely," and adds that ``the possibility of use of force by the adversary as a deliberate policy choice cannot be ruled out."

The NSP warns that Pakistan is committed to defending its territorial integrity in response to any military misadventure. "Requisite conventional capabilities will be ensured through astute investment in constant modernisation of our armed forces without embroiling in any arms race," it read.

"In addition, indigenisation of defence production, increased capabilities in network centricity, battlefield awareness, electronic warfare capabilities, and other force multipliers will be prioritized," the policy laid down.

The NSP said that nuclear deterrence occupies a critical role in the security calculus of South Asia, a policy which has long determined Pakistan’s interests.

'Full of platitudes'

Says former foreign secretary Kanwal Sibal: ``The documents are US-style, inspired no doubt by the Pakistani National Security Adviser (NSA), Moeed W Yusuf who has lived in America. The statements are full of platitudes and appear totally divorced from reality.”

He told Moneycontrol that Pakistan has not gone `over the top’ on the question of Kashmir in the NSP, but the question of accommodating India’s concerns continues to be missing.

In Kanwal Sibal’s assessment, the document in order to facilitate its tilt towards China, has relegated the US to the `other’ countries category. ``Despite being an Islamic country, the NSP makes no mention of the conditions of Uighurs in China, where atrocities are being carried out on Muslims,’’ he said.

So, is NSP old wine in a new bottle? Is there anything fresh in the document? The Times of India quoted an ex-Pakistani defence analyst as saying that ``every batch of graduates at the National Defence University produces a similar policy paper, which is presented to the PM. There is very little or exciting in the paper.” It is quite likely that Moeed Yusuf got his documents from the prime minister’s office then.