PILDAT Virtual Forum: Govt urged to start grand inter-institutional dialogue
By Asim Yasin
ISLAMABAD: An illustrious panel, comprising an eminent politician and former civil and military officials, has asked that the federal government must start a grand inter-institutional dialogue at the earliest.
Speaking at a PILDAT Virtual Forum on the topic of “Can the National Security Committee be the Platform to Hold Inter-Institutional Dialogue, Senate Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs Chairman Senator Mushahid Hussain Sayed, former secretary to Prime Minister Fawad Hasan Fawad and former Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee and former ISI DG and MI, General (R) Ehsan-ul-Haq, believed that the state of inter-institutional relations is such that a dialogue is imminently required.
The politicians and former civil and military officials said the prime minister, the federal government and the Parliament must take immediate initiatives to plan for and hold such a dialogue for the future of Pakistan.
The session of the PILDAT Forum was moderated by Joint Director, PILDAT Ms. Aasiya Riaz.
President PILDAT Ahmed Bilal Mehboob, shared various proposals for the need to hold inter-institutional dialogue in Pakistan.
He specially focused on the proposal by former Chief Justice Asif Saeed Khosa for having given the most detailed blueprint for an inter-institutional dialogue which was needed due to trust deficit among state institutions and encroachment into each others’ constitutional domains.
Former secretary to Prime Minister Fawad Hasan Fawad said a dialogue is not required just between the civil and the military but among all State institutions including the Executive, Judiciary and the Parliament. However, he said such a dialogue can only be initiated by those in power and we have seen no concurrence from the prime minister in this regard.
He said that Pakistan’s Constitution is very detailed-oriented and it has defined very well, together with government of Pakistan Rules of Business, the contours and domains of institutions and their inter-institutional relations. “The framers of the constitution did not envisage the need for an inter-institutional dialogue. Because our constitution is detailed and clearly defines every institution’s role,” he said.
He said so they never imagined that such a situation will emerge where arbitration is needed. ”A dialogue, has to be held within the confines of the Constitution and the National Security Committee (NSC) does not have a legal or Constitutional mandate to hold a dialogue,” he said, adding that a legislative forum is needed to hold a Grand National Dialogue.
Former (CJCSC) and former ISI DG and MI, General (R) Ehsan-ul-Haq said, “While we discuss the need to hold inter-institutional dialogue, we must keep in mind the painful historic perspective of dismemberment of Pakistan on December 16, 1971.”
In the past, he said Pakistan has experimented with many models of a National Security Council like body given our national security issues. He said the current NSC, despite its structure and secretariat, has not been made functional by the very party that created it.
In its current composition, NSC cannot be the platform to hold a grand dialogue, he believed, unless opposition is represented on it. “Inter-Institutional Dialogue won’t be an event, but a process, which must be held away from the gaze of media and public to avoid partisan grand-standing,” he suggested.
Senator Mushahid Hussain Sayed said, “While Inter-institutional dialogue is needed, the NSC does not have the institutional gravitas to hold this dialogue. The forum for such a dialogue should be the Parliament and like before the Senate Committee on the Whole can provide the forum to initiate such a dialogue.”
He said that setting rules of the game should be the first priority of the dialogue and it was our collective failure as a nation that we could not set rules of the game that led to the debacle of East Pakistan.
At the outset, he said therefore, military and intelligence agencies do not require to be part of the dialogue and later a core committee can engage with them. “Pakistan is a changed, vibrant society. There are no more holy cows,” he said.
He said Parliament has led before in times of crises and it can do so again. “Pakistan has the regional
space at the moment to put its own house in order,” believed Senator Mushahid Hussain Sayed.
Source: The News
