The National Security Committee () (reporting name: NSC) is a federal institutional and consultative body chaired by the prime minister of Pakistan as its chairman. The NSC is a principal forum that is mandated for considering national security and foreign policy matters with the senior national security advisers and Cabinet ministers. The idea and inception of National Security Council was first conceived in 1969 under the President Yahya Khan, its functions were to advise and assist the president and prime minister on national security and foreign policies.
The National Security Council was re-created by then-President and former General Pervez Musharraf in April 2004 under the National Security Council Act. Although, the NSC remains to as a statutory body, the National Security Council is not active since 2008, and the Cabinet Committee on National Security is fulfilling the role and purpose of the NSC. The first National Security Adviser was Tariq Aziz who was appointed in 2004 and was preceded by Major-General (retired) Mahmud Durrani in 2008. Since Durrani's deposing by Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gillani in 2009, there has been no appointed new NSC adviser since then. The NSC was abandoned by the government of Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), with a unified confirmations from the Parliament, and its functions has been taken under control by the Defence Cabinet Committee as of 2009.
The council was revived under Nawaz Sharif, who presides over meetings of the council when there is an emergency, such as hostilities between India and Pakistan, or a chance to discuss events related to the insurgency.
Structure
Former Constitution Basis
The Constitution of Pakistan in the past provided for the National Security Council. However, the provision was repealed by the 18th Amendment.
Permanent Officiates
The membership position does not depend on the will of the chairman, who is the elected Prime Minister of Pakistan. Depending on the agenda of the meeting, other concerned persons are also invited in the meeting of the NSC.
+ Structure of the Pakistan National Security Committee Ex-Officio members and permanent officials Public office and Statutory Chairman of the National Security Committee Prime Minister of Pakistan Secretary Secretary, National Security DivisionAdvisor National Security AdvisorMilitary Advisor Chief of Defence Forces (Pakistan)Statutory Attendees Minister of DefenceMinister of Foreign AffairsMinister of InteriorMinister of Finance and RevenueMinister of Information and BroadcastingMilitary Attendees Chief of Army StaffChief of Air StaffChief of Navy StaffAdditional attendees Secretary, Cabinet Division
The usual cabinet-level meetings at the NSC takes the following agenda and members of the following authorities are usually invited:
Current National Command Authority (NCA) Cabinet Committee on National Security (C2NS) Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) Former Executive Committee of the Space Research Council (ECSRC) — deactivated since 1985.
Functions The Council serves as a forum for consultation for the president and the federal government on matters of national security including the sovereignty, integrity, defence and security of the State and crisis management in general. It may also formulate recommendations to the president and the federal government in such matters.
National Security Advisers
No Name Term of Office Previous service cadre Prime Minister 1 Major-General Ghulam Omar 25 March 1969 20 December 1971 Inter-Services Selection Branch Nurul Amin2General Tikka Khan3 March 1972 1 March 1976 Inter-Services Selection Branch Zulfikar Ali Bhutto 3 Major-General Rao Farman Ali 29 March 1985 17 August 1988 Inter-Services Selection Branch Muhammad Khan Junejo 4Tariq Aziz 4 April 2004 18 August 2008 Central Superior Services Shaukat AzizYousaf Raza Gillani 5Major-General Mahmud Ali Durrani 19 August 2008 7 January 2009 Inter-Services Selection Branch Yousaf Raza Gillani 6Sartaj Aziz7 July 201322 October 2015Central Superior ServicesNawaz Sharif 7Lieutenant-General Nasser Khan Janjua23 October 201527 June 2018Inter-Services Selection BranchNawaz Sharif8Moeed Yusuf24 December 201910 April 2022—Imran Khan9Asim Malik30 April 2025IncumbentInter-Services Selection BranchShehbaz Sharif
History
Inception: 1969–1971
The Pakistan military has been sending many recommendations for the establishment of the National Security Council as akin and counterpart to the American National Security Council. A comprehensive report on NSC was written and submitted by the Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral S.M. Ahsan in 1968. Admiral Ahsan submitted his handwritten report to President Yahya Khan's staff in Islamabad in 1969 and emphasized support for the establishment of the military dominated national security council composed of senior civil and military officials who would advise the government on national security issues and propose strategies to overcome the challenges involving the foreign policy matters. The proposal was forwarded to President Office, and then to President Yahya Khan with strong recommendations for its approval.
In 1969, President Yahya Khan established the National Security Council, after signing and issuing the presidential decree to establish this consultative institution. Major-General Ghulam Omar was appointed NSC's first secretary and was posted at the General Headquarters (GHQ) to perform operations of NSC under President Yahya Khan. The NSC secretariat was part of the President Office and the Chief Martial Law Administrator (CMLA) and was directly under the control of the military establishment which then-functioned under President Yahya Khan's staff.
The NSC secretariat was highly unpopular in public and political circles of Pakistan, and it quickly gained notoriety in civil society due to its involvement in political and civilian affairs. The NSC secretariat did not figure in the decision-making of the military government because President Yahya Khan ran his government administration as personalized enterprise relaying heavily on his close and trusted military and bureaucratic advisers. The NSC Secretary, Major-General Ghulam Omar, was less focused on national issues whilst kept his interest in combat development. The NSC Secretariat under Yahya Khan was only a paper organization.
The Genesis: 1985–1999 + 1998 NSC Debates on Nuclear testsParticipants in debatesCadre/OfficeVoteNotesNawaz Sharif Prime Minister Voted and Ordered testsSartaj Aziz Finance Minister Opposed but later retraced.Mushahid Hussain Information Minister First to propose in favor of testsGohar Ayub Foreign Minister Ishaq DarKhan, Feroz Hassan (2012). Eating grass the making of the Pakistan's atomic bomb. Palo Alto: Stanford University Press. . Commerce Minister Support in favor of testsShamshad Ahmad Foreign Secretary Gen Jehangir Karamat Chairman Joint ChiefsChief of army staff Spoke in favor but left decision on SharifAdm. Fasih BokhariAhmad Noorani (October 11, 2011). "Why Admiral Bokhari is a favourite of Zardari, rejected by Nawaz". The News International. Retrieved 18 May 2012. Chief of Naval Staff Opposed tests on moral groundACM PQ Mehdi Chief of Air Staff Supported and provide logisticsDr.Abdul Qadeer Khan Senior scientist at KRL Debated and proposed testsDr.Ishfaq Ahmad Senior scientist at PAEC Supported in favor testsDr.Samar Mubarakmand Senior scientist at PAEC Debated in favor of testsMunir Ahmad Khan Senior scientist at PAEC Debated in favor of testsAhmad Kamal Representative to UN Diplomatic in favor of testsJaved Hashmi Environmental Minister Debated in favor of tests
The concept of National Security Council as a bridge of stabilizing the civil-military relations has always been favoured by the military spectrum of Pakistan since 1971. In 1973, Pakistan military has sent repeated recommendations of peculiar structure of the NSC in which senior military commanders of Pakistan Armed Forces are ensured a seat at the table. The proposal was met with heated criticism in the state parliament and Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto instead issued a white paper on Higher Defence Organisations (HDO) in May 1976, outlining the institutional arrangements for dealing with defence and security affairs. This led the ultimate creation of the Defence Committee of the Cabinet (DCC) which has the mandate of responsibility of national defence rested with the prime minister. The DCC conveys matters to other important organisations involved in the national security decision-making on security affairs included the Ministry of Defence (MoD), the JS HQ of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee and its Chairman, the Chiefs of Staff of the Pakistan Armed Forces.
After the enactment of the martial law by chief of army staff General Zia-ul-Haq in 1977, the DCC had remained active. After holding successful referendum, followed by non-partisan general elections in 1985, President General Zia-ul-Haq authored and inserted Article 152-A to the Constitution through the Revival of the Constitution Order (RCO), in March 1985. This led the establish a National Security Council for accommodating the high-ranking military leadership in policy making. The NSC was empowered to "make recommendations relating to the issue of a Proclamation of Emergency under Article 232, security of Pakistan and any other matter of national importance that may be referred to it by the President in consultation with the Prime Minister."
The NSC was opposed by most political circles and it had to be dropped as a part of the deal with the Parliament to get the parliamentary approval for the revised version of the Revival of the Constitution Order (RCO) as Eighth Amendment to the Constitution of Pakistan, in October 1985. The NSC was dissolved by Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto in 1993 and reactivated the DCC operationalize in its place.
From 1998–99, there were only two NSC meetings took place which were chaired by the Prime Minister Sharif; first occasion when Sharif ordered Pakistan's nuclear tests in response to India's tests, as part of his tit-for-tat policy. At the NSC cabinet meeting, the Pakistani government, military, scientific, and civilian officials were participating in a debate, broadening, and complicating the decision-making process. Although, General Karamat debated towards presenting the national security and military point of view, the final decision was left on Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's say. After the decision was made, General Karamat was notified of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's decision and asked the military to be stand-by orders. After providing the joint military logistics, the nuclear tests were eventually carried out on 28 May 1998, as Chagai-I, and on 30 May 1998 as codename: Chagai-II. As dawn broke over the Chagai mountains, Pakistan became the world's seventh nuclear power.
Secondly, the NSC meeting took place during the heights of the Kargil War in 1999. Empowerment of the NSC at the bureaucratic level was the primary issue that led to the forced relieve of Chairman Joint Chiefs General Jehangir Karamat in 1998. In an absence of the forum, the upheavals in civil–military relations led to the dismissal of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in 1999 when he tried to dismissed then-Chairman Joint Chiefs Pervez Musharraf.
Reconstruction and developments: 2004–2008 + 2007 NSC Debates on Lal MasjidParticipants in debatesCadre/OfficeVotePervez Musharraf President(Chief of army staff) Shaukat Aziz Prime Minister(Finance Minister) Gen Ehsan-ul-Haq Chairman Joint Chiefs Khurshid Kasuri Foreign Minister Adm Afzal Tahir Chief of Naval Staff Tariq Aziz NSA ACM Tanvir Ahmed Chief of Air Staff Aftab Sherpao Interior Minister Shujaat Hussain President, PML(Q) Ijaz-ul-Haq Religion minister Tariq Azim Pakistan Senator Ali Khan Attorney General Muhammad Durrani Information Minister