SENATE OF PAKISTAN Promoting Pakistan's Defence through Development and Democracy REPORT OF THE SENATE COMMITTEE ON DEFENCE AND DEFENCE PRODUCTION Public Hearings on: Towards a New Defence Strategy & Civil-Military Relations Report 3 SENATE OF PAKISTAN Promoting Pakistan's Defence through Development and Democracy REPORT OF THE SENATE COMMITTEE ON DEFENCE AND DEFENCE PRODUCTION Public Hearings on: Towards a New Defence Strategy & Civil-Military Relations Report 3 SENATE OF PAKISTAN Report of the Senate Committee on Defence and Defence Production Contents 1. From the Chairman's Desk 07 2. Executive Summary 11 3. Public Hearing on “Towards a New Defence Strategy” 15 4. Press Clippings 59 5. Public Hearing on “Civil-Military Relations” 69 6. Press Clippings 97 7. Profiles of Chairman and Members of the Committee 105 FromFrom the the Chairman's Chairman's Desk Desk SENATE OF PAKISTAN Report of the Senate Committee on Defence and Defence Production From the Chairman's Desk his is a Special Report of the Senate Committee on Defence and Defence Production focusing on the two Public Hearings Tthat were held on September 28 and November 28, 2012 respectively. The Senate Defence & Defence Production Committee has, to quote Dawn, “broken taboos in the realm of national security by opening up debates on defence budget, counter-terrorism policy and civil-military relations” and as Express Tribune pointed out, “the Senate Defence Committee has gone beyond cosmetics” to focus on the substance of defence and security issues in a manner that has never been done before. The Senate Defence Committee broke new ground by inviting experts and opinion leaders outside parliament and officialdom, thereby involving civil society, media and non-official professionals who have an expertise in their subjects. This Report contains details of the two Public Hearings, the first on September 28, which was on the theme: “Towards a new Defence Policy” and the second on November 28, which was on “Civil-Military Relations”. Three experts spoke at each of the sessions and the gist of their presentations has been faithfully recorded in this report so that those who cannot attend can read and print it via our increasingly popular website: www.senatedefencecommittee.com.pk. The massive interest generated can be seen from the fact that the second Public Hearing, on Civil-Military Relations, lasted over 3 hours with 26 persons asking questions or making comments, including 7 parliamentarians. Media response was both supportive and positive. As I have always maintained, the supremacy of Parliament cannot be established by words alone or by simply referring to clauses in the constitution. This has to be done through performance, and leadership in ideas, issues and initiatives, a process on which the Senate Committee on Defence and Defence Production is already embarked as is evident from our track record in a short period of time since the election of the Committee in June 2012. We will continue to provide a platform for an informed policy debate on defence issues, with a view to providing accountability and transparency, and, above all, resolve issues by reversing wrongs and look for a solution-oriented approach. We are proceeding according to our Work Plan which also envisages the launch of a Defence Policy Strategy document in the first quarter of 2013 and this document would endeavour to provide a new vision for national defence that meets the country's essential requirements in the 21st Century by incorporating both the military and the civilian components in the context of defence and national security. The Senate Defence Committee has been striving to serve as a bridge between the Khaki and the Mufti, and between the media and the military. 07 I wish to thank both the SDPD (Strengthening Democracy through Parliamentary Development) and the PILDAT (Pakistan Institute of Legislative Development and Transparency) for their support and cooperation in making the two Public Hearings a success and also in the preparation of this report. Thanks are also due to the Pakistan Institute of Parliamentary Studies (PIPS) for offering use of their excellent facilities as a venue for the second Public Hearing. As always, the Secretariat of the Senate as well as the Senate Defence & Defence Production Committee worked hard to produce a quality document. Mushahid Hussain Sayed Chairman ExecutiveExecutive SummarySummary SENATE OF PAKISTAN Report of the Senate Committee on Defence and Defence Production Executive Summary The Senate Standing Committee on Defence and Defence Production, under the Chairmanship of Senator Mushahid Hussain Syed has set a new tradition of public hearings in the country's parliament. The first public hearing was held on September, 28, 2012 in the Committee room of the Parliament House and the second one in the Pakistan Institute for Parliamentary Services (PIPS) auditorium on November, 28, 2012. The two public hearings welcomed by the media and civil society besides parliamentary and academic circles are part of a series that the Defence Committee intends to hold in connection with preparation of the Defence Strategy Document, which it would be unveiling in the first part of the next year (2013). While the hearings add to the knowledge of the legislators, they provide an opportunity to the general public to be the part of process by giving evidence and contributing to review and scrutiny of the issues connected to country's defence and national security. The Committee at the first hearing invited Dr. Shireen Mazari, Mr. Tariq Khosa and Mr. Saleem Safi to speak about three critical areas of national defence and security –the country's nuclear doctrine, the strategy to counter extremism and the policy for FATA/Afghanistan. Dr. Mazari in her presentation discussed how the nuclear doctrine underwent transformation in response to the evolving situation in the country's neighborhood. She also spoke about the position taken by the government on arms control and disarmament and stressed that it needed to be sustained for the nuclear deterrence to remain credible. Dr. Mazari while suggesting a new Strategic restraint Regime called on the government to initiate a dialogue with India on reduction of conventional forces. Mr. Tariq Khosa recapitulated the history of terrorism in country beginning with state patronage of sectarian groups during Zia's era to present day fight against militancy and extremism that is being stymied by shortcomings in the criminal justice system. Mr. Khosa through his candid comments drew the attention of the legislators to the flaws in the counter-terrorism strategy, the turf war going on between the intelligence agencies, the blunders committed in handling unrest in Balochistan, absence of legal cover for some of the counter-terrorism initiatives. Mr. Saleem Safi assessed the situation in Afghanistan and Federally Administered tribal Areas. He pointed out the civil-military disconnect in handling of the Afghan policy, which he said was adding to our problems. He questioned the state policy of hoping for a friendly government in Kabul and asked for a pro-active diplomatic strategy for building ties with Afghanistan encompassing trade, economic and cultural cooperation. Talking about FATA, Mr. Safi said Afghanistan and militancy in the tribal areas were inter-related. He suggested a multi-dimensional approach for addressing militancy in tribal areas by dealing with it at ideological, political and economic planes in addition to militarily putting it down. He also made an interesting evaluation of the military operations in Swat and tribal areas and the impact of drones. The three presentations were followed by interventions by the committee members, who invariably called for an institutionalized dialogue between civilian and military leaders and a comprehensive national policy and strategy on the issues. Chairman Senator Mushahid Hussain in his concluding remarks said the issues and the way forward has been identified. He said the tradition of public hearings would be continued and that this committee would act as a bridge between the civilian side and the military. Profiles and written statements of the three experts for the first public hearing can be found in annexures. The second public hearing by the Senate Committee on Defence and Defence Production was held on 28th November, 2012. The public hearing was held in the auditorium of Pakistan Institute of Parliamentary Services (PIPS). Although it was second in the 11 SENATE OF PAKISTAN Report of the Senate Committee on Defence and Defence Production series but it was first of its kind in the sense that a large number of people from civil society, media, think tanks and important analysts, academicians and opinion makers were invited besides the committee members. This was a big step in extending the outreach efforts of the Parliament spearheaded by the Defence Committee. The topic of the seminar was 'civil military relations', but contrary to the ongoing debate and one sided criticism in the media and some other forums, the public hearing was designed and conducted in a balanced and trust building manner. Out of the three experts, Syed Saleem Abbass Jilani was a retired civilian officer who had headed the Ministry of Defence as a Federal Secretary as well as Federal Minister. The second expert, Lt. Gen. (R) Saleem Haider had served in the Pakistan Army in top positions including Corps Commander. The third expert, Dr. Hassan Askari Rizvi is a political and defence analyst of international repute. Lt. Gen. (R) Saleem Haider in his presentation underscoring the importance of the topic tried to co-relate it with the history of the country and narrated some particular incidents, events and observations. He also mentioned about the vacuum prevailing since the creation of the country and still existing due to not very good performance by the civilian institutions and leadership. He gave a few recommendations to address the issue in a positive and lasting manner.