Islamabad Chamber of Commerce & Industry has welcomed Government’s initiative to devise a first of its kind multi-layer comprehensive National security policy and termed it a positive measure as it would grapple complex security landscapes and unprecedented challenges to peace and stability.
 

Talking to businessmen, Zafar Bakhtawari, President Islamabad Chamber of Commerce & Industry said the new policy should address all security challenges the country has been facing since 9/11. He said that security is relevant to foreign policy and until and unless no drastic change has been brought in it neither such security policies would be effective to achieve the target of peace and stability.

 

Since no comprehensive security plan has been put in place despite of heavy toll exacted by terrorism and vulnerable state of law and order situation in the country, it would be a rational approach of government in right direction of bringing economic stability.
 

He was of the view, that since independence, Pakistan has been facing many internal and external security challenges for its national security and Pakistan always played a frontline role to counter terrorism. Now it has become imperative to design and seriously implement security policy for economic development of the country that has suffered a lot due to terrorism and unemployment which is root cause of promoting alarming criminal activities within the country, he added.
 

President, ICCI said rising security threats are badly damaging business activities and discouraging investment, therefore, Government should take measures to curb this trend. He said Pakistan security situation has greatly affected our economic growth which has slowed to 2.9 pc per annum and investment was down to 50 years low at 12.5 percent of GDP. Moreover, foreign direct investment simply collapsed from $7billion to $1 billion in the last 10 years similarly export was still stagnant at $24 billion from the last two years, so proactive measures should be taken to resolve these economic issues because economic and security instability would badly effect the business and investment environment.
 

He appreciated the determination of government to bring peace for economic stability at all costs and was of the view that that this five layers approach of national security policy would help design to dismantle, to contain, to prevent, to educate and to reintegrate all dimensions of security problems at all levels. Therefore, government should consider inter-state as well as its intra-state security issues, he added. 
 

He proposes that Pakistan should follow China’s backburner security model in Hong Kong and Mahathir Mohamad’s security policy in Malaysia, and many other countries like USA and Russia security strategic models to tackle law and order situations, energy and natural resources security issues for economic revival of the country.
 

President stressed that it has now become imperative for policymakers, government officials, and strategists to look for the reasons of being insecure state and ways to develop structured national security policy to overcome the declining of real GDP growth rate from 7.7-3.4% from the year 2005-2012.
 

While recognizing the challenges, he told sectarianism is the biggest threat to the country and national security policy should be strong, realistic and balanced enough to curb the sectarianism which would fillip our national consciousness, trade and ultimately our economy.