Economic security is at the core of Pakistan’s first National Security Policy
Pakistan’s first-ever National Security Policy (NSP) 2022-2026 has been approved by National Security Council (NSC) on Monday.
The policy will now be presented before the federal cabinet on December 28 for final approval.
Prime Minister Imran Khan, who chaired the 36th meeting of the NSC, termed the NSP’s formulation and approval “a historic moment.”
The prime minister noted that the policy must guide all organs of the government to ensure that their efforts are 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.
Prime Minister Imran Khan emphasized that the security of Pakistan rests in the security of its citizens and reposed confidence that “Pakistan is well prepared to meet any internal and external threats.”
The NSC meeting was attended by federal ministers for Foreign Affairs, Defence, Information & Broadcasting, Interior, Finance, Human Rights as well as Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee, all Services Chiefs, and senior civil and military officers.
The National Security Policy was presented at the NSC by the National Security Advisor (NSA) Dr Moeed Yusuf. He briefed the participants about the salient features of the NSP.
He 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” he said.
The policy document had been completed 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. A detailed implementation framework had been created through which the National Security Division would review progress in collaboration with relevant ministries and departments.
A public version of the document will be released in due course.