PILDAT reviews highlights NSC’s critical role in civil-military consultation

2026-03-26 - 01:30

As the second year of Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif’s term commenced on March 5, 2025, the Pakistan Institute of Legislative Development And Transparency ( PILDAT ) has shared it review of the performance and effectiveness of Pakistan’s National Security Committee (NSC) during this period. In its annual review of the NSC, PILDAT has noted that while the committee was convened on three occasions during the year, its functioning remained largely episodic and reactive, triggered primarily by acute security crises. The April–June 2025 meetings, convened in response to the Pahalgam attack in the Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK) and subsequent cross-border escalation, underscored the NSC’s critical role in facilitating civil-military consultation and coordinated national responses. The June 2025 meeting further demonstrated the NSC’s capacity to assess broader regional developments, including the Israeli military strikes on Iran, highlighting its potential as a platform for strategic deliberation beyond immediate bilateral crises. PILDAT’s review indicates that the NSC’s overall use remained irregular. The Committee continues to function primarily as a crisis-response mechanism rather than as a regular forum for continuous strategic assessment. The National Security Division (NSD), intended to provide analytical and operational support, remained underutilized due to the irregular convening of the NSC. At the same time, increasing reliance on parallel coordination mechanisms, such as Apex Committees under the National Action Plan and other high-level ad hoc meetings, has contributed to the dilution of the NSC’s institutional prominence and strategic coherence. PILDAT recommends that the NSC be institutionalized as a regular forum for strategic civil-military consultation, with monthly meetings to proactively review domestic and international security developments. The NSD’s analytical, operational, and coordination capacities should be strengthened to ensure that high-level national security deliberations are supported by evidence-based analysis and long-term strategic planning.