Islamabad Security Dialogue – Pakistan’s New Strategic Approach to National Security Issues

In Blog
March 17, 2021
Mahnoor Islam
18 Views
0 comments

The National Security Division of Pakistan along with renowned think tanks and organizations such as the Islamabad Policy Research Institute (IPRI), Centre for Aerospace and Security Studies and Institute of Strategic Studies Islamabad are hosting Islamabad security Dialogue on 17th and 18th March 2021. Islamabad dialogue will be Pakistan’s premier forum that will bring together

The National Security Division of Pakistan along with renowned think tanks and organizations such as the Islamabad Policy Research Institute (IPRI), Centre for Aerospace and Security Studies and Institute of Strategic Studies Islamabad are hosting Islamabad security Dialogue on 17th and 18th March 2021. Islamabad dialogue will be Pakistan’s premier forum that will bring together national and international academics and experts to discuss several important topics involving national security such as Geostrategic Compulsions, Economic Security, Sustainable Developmental Partnerships, Poverty Alleviation, Terrorism, Extremism, climate change as well as the Covid-19 Pandemic.

There are renowned speakers who would participate in the conference including, Dr. Moeed Yusuf, Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi as well as Chief of Army Staff General Qamar Javed Bajwa. During the event, Prime Minister Imran Khan will launch the NSD advisory portal, which is designed to bridge the gap between public and policy makers. The portal shall allow think tanks, universities and organizations to offer policy recommendations to the government regarding national security. The portal is a way for the government and experts working on national security to share ideas directly and without any intermediation.

The conference is an excellent initiative that provides opportunities to organizations and the government to come together to discuss important issues and get diverse opinions and insights from experts. According to Dr. Moeed Yusuf, Advisor to the Prime Minister regarding national security and former vice president at the Institute of Peace in Washington DC, this event is a ‘pioneer initiative of NSD spotlighting conversations essential to the future of our holistic national security paradigm encompassing traditional, economic, and human security’.

The landscape of national security is rapidly changing and evolving and it requires us to be proactive in our approach. From cyberattacks, maritime threats, espionage cases to lawfare, Pakistan needs effective strategies and techniques to deal with the evolving challenges and risks. The Islamabad dialogue is an excellent platform provided to policy makers and experts to share their opinions regarding the security issues Pakistan faces today.

Security dialogues of the same kind are conducted in various western countries to strengthen policies on national security issues by engaging thinks tanks, academics and the government. These policy makers and experts engage in discourse about the most challenging security issues and share ideas and recommendations accordingly. Some of the examples of these security dialogues are Munich Security conference that’s held in Germany every year and US Aspen Dialogues held in the United States.

As previously mentioned, the topics that shall be discussed during the sessions have different implications on Pakistan’s national security. It is welcoming to see economic security being discussed as Pakistan’s economic prosperity is inherently linked to its ability to protect itself militarily. Economic security has been neglected for far too long and it is wonderful to see the government taking an initiative on this front.

Governments and policy makers have often failed to emphasize that a strong economy that balances between market regulation and market freedom is essential for Pakistan as it strengthen its national security in the region. It is imperative that Pakistan realize the impact of a strong economy and it would be interesting to see the solutions and ideas that experts and panelists highlight during the session. This is especially important as the FATF plenary meeting in June is only a few months away and Pakistan has to demonstrate that its anti-terror financing laws are sufficient in addressing the systemic decencies pointed out by the watchdog to get out of the grey-list.

It is also interesting to see discussions being held on the COVID-19 Pandemic, which took the world by storm. The pandemic, which started in 2019 has had an immense effect on the entire world, forcing the world economy to come to a halt. While some countries have been successful in controlling the spread of the virus, others have failed in controlling the pandemic. It seemed that Pakistan had flattened the curve earlier, however, now the country seems to be rushing towards a third wave, which seems to be much more dangerous. With discussions on such a wide platform, it would be interesting to hear ideas from experts on how to combat the current pandemic and how Pakistan can deal with future pandemics and health crises.

Another area of discussion which has also not been explored very much is climate change. Concerns for Pakistan include increased variability of monsoons, decreased capacity of water reservoirs, reduced hydropower during drought years as well as floods. As a result of such events, Pakistan’s agricultural and livestock production suffers, it has to deal with food security and biodiversity loss. Therefore, while the current government has taken up initiatives regarding climate change, a lot more needs to be done. Thus, it is wonderful to see climate change being part of the Islamabad dialogue where interesting insights and points shall be raised regarding the need to deal with such a significant issue along with mechanisms to deal with it.

In today’s ever evolving security landscape, such conferences must be conducted to assess the most immediate and pressing issues and engage all national security stakeholders. The conference allows policy makers from different parts of the world to come together and discuss vital issues which have a may have a strong impact on Pakistan’s national security paradigm as it grapples with new security issues. The conference is going to invent solutions in order to counter national security problems. Such conferences shall hopefully pave way for future seminars and conferences involving key stakeholders and experts.