Islamabad, September 03; In a PILDAT Roundtable Discussion on Restructuring the Higher Defence Organisation in Pakistan, former Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee, Gen. (Retd.) Ehsan ul Haq shared his proposals on what he termed an urgent necessity on reforming the Higher Defence Organisation in Pakistan.

Gen. (Retd) Ehsan ul Haq, Former Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee, Pakistan (Oct 2004-Oct 2007), and Former Director General ISI (Oct 2001-Oct 2004), presented a paper written on the platform of PILDAT titled Restructuring Higher Defence Organisation of Pakistan.

Other key speaker at the session included Syed Naveed Qamar, MNA, former Defence Minister, (NA-222, PPP Hyderabad-V, Sindh), Senator Rafique Rajwana, (PML-N, Punjab) and Mr. Ahmed Bilal Mehboob, President, PILDAT. Parliamentarians, Members of PILDAT Dialogue Group on Civil Military Relations and Academia participated in the session.

Welcoming the restructuring of DCC recently as the Cabinet Committee on National Security by the Government, Gen. (Retd.) Ehsan ul Haq said that the restructured CCNS may require harmonization with the National Command Authority, where the Employment Control Committee has a similar composition. There is need to strengthen and articulate the role of the Ministry of Defence by having an empowered full time Minister of Defence to exercise authority over the Armed Forces on behalf of the Prime Minister. He advised against the PM holding this post himself. The Minister of Defence may also be included in the Development Control Committee of the NCA as a Deputy Chairman. Ministry of Defence Production may revert to its earlier status of a separate division under the Ministry of Defence, headed by a Minister of State. The Ministry should primarily be manned by civilian staff except where the expertise of uniformed military personnel is inescapable. There is an urgent need to develop the capacity in the civil bureaucracy on defence matters. While empowering and articulating the functioning of the Ministry of Defence, it is essential to clearly delineate political /policy direction by the political leadership, and exercise of administrative authority by the civil bureaucracy from the operational control of the Armed Forces, which must firmly rest with the military authorities. There must be cognizance of the corporate interests of the Armed Forces and the need for operational autonomy. Establishment of an appropriate media/public relations office in the Ministry of Defence and integration of the Services Public Relations Organization with it are also required. He also said that the Defence Council should be made effective and functional.

Gen. (Retd.) Ehsan-ul-Haq also advised that we have to ultimately adopt a fully integrated Chief of Defence Staff model as our current system of JCSC and the JSHQ has to be modified accordingly. However, he advised that we need to transition deliberately, may be in phases, to minimize any possible disruptions and without impairing our operational preparedness. Chairman JCSC may be re-designated as the Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff and the JSHQ as the Joint Services Headquarters with sufficient authority over important subjects concerning the services, both in peace and war, including joint planning and coordination for conduct of operations, budgeting, force development (including weapon induction, defence production and procurement), communications, logistics, intelligence coordination, information and preparedness for war. This would require the restructuring of the JSHQ and transfer of inter services organizations and functions indicated in the White Paper, under it.

To overcome the lack of consensus on the rotation of the Chairman between the Services, ge advised, it is proposed that the appointment of a 4-star Vice Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff may be created which is in vogue in many countries. Thus while the Chairman may continue to be from the Army (due to the predominance of land strategy and asymmetry in the size of the services), the Vice Chairman may be on rotation between the Navy and the Air Force.

To ensure an integrated response through jointness in planning and management of the armed forces and better articulate the civil military relations, the Chairman JCS should be the single point of contact between the political and military leadership. The right of direct access by the service chiefs should be only in very exceptional circumstances, if there is a disagreement with the Chairman, said Gen. (Retd.) Ehsan-ul-Haq. He said that the chain of command should run from the Prime Minister to Defence Minister to Chairman JCS and then the Service Chiefs. In case of war, the Chairman, duly assisted by the JCS, would be the Principal Military Advisor to the Prime Minister. He also proposed that promotion of three stars and above in all services should be controlled by the Chairman, who would make recommendations to the Defence Minister/Prime Minister for approval.

Gen. (Retd.) Ehsan-ul-Haq also said that the capacity of the Parliamentary Committee must be upgraded to ensure effective oversight of the Ministry of Defence and the Armed Forces. The priority in this regard should be a better monitoring of the defence budget and procurements. This would require closer interaction between the Defence, Finance and Public Accounts Committees of the Parliament to evolve processes that can overcome concerns over security, while adhering to the principles of accountability and transparency before public representatives.

Syed Naveed Qamar believed that now is the most opportune time for a fact-based discussion on reforming of the HDO as the National security Policy is under consultation. He endorsed all the recommendations made by Gen. (Retd.) Ehsan-ul-Haq but asked whether these recommendations also enjoy support of the Armed Forces. He said that Defence Minister is only a ceremonial position in Pakistan and it is time that the role of Defence Minister is asserted. He believed that the DCC and CCI remained ineffective in the past. He also believed that reconstituting DCC into CCNS should have been discussed in the Parliament.

Senator Rafique Rajwana termed reform proposals to be good and practical. He said that if everyone institution remains in the ambit of the Constitution, there would not be any problem. He said that according to Article 243 that Federal Government has the full command and control over the Armed Forces but the facts are different.

Earlier, Mr. Ahmed Bilal Mehboob, President PILDAT while welcoming the participants highlighted that the objective of the PILDAT Forum is to generate fact-based debate and well-structured policy revisions on the subject of reforming the HDO in Pakistan. The paper by Gen. (Retd.) Ehsan-ul-Haq that has been commissioned by PILDAT is part of PILDAT�s work on Democratic Civil-Military Relations in Pakistan. He said that the structure of Pakistan�s Higher Defence Organisation was revamped in 1976 and has not been reviewed since. The existing structure of higher defence organisation needs urgent review and revamp. He said that the need is highlighted more after the aftermath of incidents such as the Abbottabad operation and attacks on PNS Mehran and Salalah border post. He said that with a new elected Government in place after May 2013 General Election it is critical that well-considered proposals to restructure Pakistan�s Higher Defence Organisation are shared with the Government and the Parliament.

A large number of Parliamentarians attended the Roundtable. Members of Parliament who attended the Roundtable included, Senator Rubina Khalid (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, PPP), Ms. Aisha, MNA (Women Reserved Seat, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Jamat-e-Islami), Ms. Mussarat Ahmadzeb, MNA (Women Reserved Seat, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, PTI), Ms. Tahira Aurangzeb, MNA (Women Reserved Seat, Punjab, PML-N), Ms. Mahreen Bhutto, MNA (Women Reserved Seat, Sindh, PPP), Ms. Zahra Wadood Fatemi, MNA (Women Reserved Seat, Punjab, PML-N), Ms. Maiza Hameed Gujjar, (Women Reserved Seat, Punjab, PML-N), Ms. Aliya Kamran, MNA (Women Reserved Seat, Balochistan, JUI-F), Ms. Naeema Kishwer, MNA, (Women Reserved Seat, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, JUI-F), Ms. Amra Khan, MNA (Women Reserved Seat, Punjab, PML-N), Ms. Nafeesa Khattak, MNA (Women Reserved Seat, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, PTI), Ms. Asyia Naz Tanoli, MNA (Women Reserved Seat, Punjab, PML-N), Dr. Ramesh Kumar Vankwani, MNA (Minority Reserve Seat, Sindh, PML-N) and Raja Aamer Zaman, MNA, (NA 19, Haripur, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa PTI).

The members of Dialogue Group on Civil Military Relations who were present at the session include Major General (Retd.) Athar Abbas, Former DG ISPR, Mr. Omar Khan Afridi, Former Federal Minister, Lt. Gen. (Retd.) Arif Bangash, Former Governor, NWFP, Lt. Gen. (Retd.) Humayun Bangash, Former Ambassador, Maj. Gen. (Retd.) Mahmud Ali Durrani, Former National Security Advisor, Lt. Gen. (Retd.) Moinuddin Haider, Former Governor, Mr. Javed Jabbar, Former federal Minister, Vice Admiral (Retd) Khalid Mir, Former Ambassador, Mr. Rustam Shah Mohmand, Former Chief Secretary, NWFP, Mr. Saleem Safi, Senior Journalist and Mr. Ashraf Jahangir Qazi , Former Ambassador.