IPI presents policy recommendations to PTI govt

Islamabad : The new Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf led government would face issues in asserting democratic supremacy in the country in addition to the usual governance and service delivery challenges, says Islamabad Policy Institute (IPI), an independent Islamabad based think tank.

This assessment has been given in the think tank’s newly published book, which provides an insight into several policy challenges and fleeting opportunities that the new Pakistan government confronts. The theme of this 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, 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 organization Konrad Adenauer Stiftung.

The book further points out that the country is still far from achieving long-term political stability because polarization in society and body-politic has deepened. This book, which is based on almost a year-long research, is divided into three main sections.

The first section consists of the ‘Foreword’ by Syed Muhammad Sajjad Shabbir, Executive Director of IPI and ‘Executive Summary’ of the policy papers by Syed Muhammad Ali, the Editor of this publication. The second section provides a brief but comprehensive comparative analysis of the manifestos of three leading political parties, PML (N), PPP and PTI, which have the experience of governing Pakistan and shaping and steering its policy agenda on critical national issues.

The second section also provides specific policy recommendations on several key subjects to the legislators, relevant parliamentary committees and respective ministries and well as scholars and students who are interested in a well-informed policy debate process.

The third part of the book is the most substantive and consists of sixteen 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 ‘Operationalizing CPEC’ by Faisal Ahmad, ‘Pakistan’s Energy Security’ by Syed Muhammad Ali, ‘Climate Policies’ by Chairman - Higher Education Commission 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 this comprehensive and well researched policy document. On socio-political issues, Raza Rumi has written a paper on ‘Managing Civil-Military Relations after 2018’, Marvi Sirmed on ‘Freedom of Expression’ and Syed Sajjad Shabbir Bokhari on ‘Media Policy’.