Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: The new Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf led government is likely to face issues in asserting democratic supremacy in addition to the usual governance and service delivery challenges, says Islamabad Policy Institute (IPI), an independent Islamabad based think tank, in its newly published book.

The theme of the book, titled ‘Pakistan: Mapping the Policy Agenda (2018-2023)’, is ‘Governing Pakistan Better’. It aims to provide the new administration and legislators, a well-researched and comprehensive policy tool, and a ready reference guide, in order to help them appreciate the complexity of various key policy areas, before they can chart a new course to better govern Pakistan.

The book has been published in collaboration with a German organisation Konrad Adenauer Stiftung.

The book points out that the country is still far from achieving long-term political stability because polarisation in society and body-politic has deepened.

Based on almost a year-long research, the book is divided into three sections. The first section consists of the ‘Foreword’ by Syed Muhammad Sajjad Shabbir, the executive director of IPI, and the ‘Executive Summary’ of the policy papers by Syed Muhammad Ali, the editor of the publication.

The second section provides a brief but comprehensive comparative analysis of the manifestos of three leading political parties – PML-N, PPP and PTI. The section also provides specific policy recommendations on several key subjects to the legislators, relevant parliamentary committees and respective ministries as well as scholars and students interested in policy debates.

The third part of the book is the most substantive and consists of 16 well-researched policy papers on important national issues. These policy papers have been written by leading experts in their respective subjects. These include ‘Pakistan’s Foreign Policy’ by former Foreign Secretary Shamshad Ahmad Khan, ‘Defence Policy’ by former Secretary Defence Lt. Gen (Retd) Asif Yasin Malik, ‘Defining National Security Needs’ by former DG Arms Control and Disarmament Branch of the Strategic Plans Division, Khalid Banuri, ‘Countering Violent Extremism and Terrorism in Pakistan’ by Muhammad Amir Rana and Safdar Sial and ‘Reforming Pakistan’s Anti-Terrorism Regime’ by Sarah Belal.

Policy papers on socio-economic and non-traditional security issues include ‘Pakistan’s Economy’ by Muhammad Asim, Awais A. Sattar and Seemab Shehzad, three Certified Financial Analysts. Policy papers on ‘Operationalising CPEC’ by Faisal Ahmad; ‘Pakistan’s Energy Security’ by Syed Muhammad Ali; ‘Climate Policies’ by Higher Education Commission chairman Tariq Banuri; ‘Water Security’ by Mustafa Talpur; ‘Pakistan’s Population Development Challenge’ by Dr Zeba A Sathar and Dr. Ali M. Mir; ‘Revitalizing the Health Sector’ by Dr. Malik Husain Mubashir and ‘How Democratic Transition Matters for Education’ by Musharraf Zaidi, also form part of the policy document.

On socio-political issues, the book features papers by Daily Times editor Raza Rumi, on ‘Managing Civil-Military Relations after 2018’; Marvi Sirmed on ‘Freedom of Expression’; and Syed Sajjad Shabbir Bokhari on ‘Media Policy’.

Published in Daily Times, September 10^th 2018.