November 30; PILDAT�s Dialogue Group on Civil-Military Relations met today. The Group discussed the Supreme Court judgement on the Asghar Khan Case and largely termed it as largely positive. However, the Group pointed out that the involvement of the Presidency and the ISI in the political process neither began nor ended in 1990. The judgement underlines the need to strengthen civilian supremacy and sustainable democracy in Pakistan.

There was a broad consensus in the Group that there has been considerable improvement in civil-military relations over the past 5 years. However, there is still a need to work in this area for improving the quality of relationship through a graduated approach.

It is imperative to apply a holistic perspective covering the major sectors of civilian and military relationship especially governance and political management and legal and socio-economic sectors of society. Pakistan needs institutional balance where all State institutions work within the limits defined by the Constitution and Law and demonstrate respect for each other�s domain.

Partisan agenda-oriented criticism of the State institutions and sectors, be it the Parliament, the Judiciary, the Executive, and its branch, the Armed Forces, should be avoided. Responsibility of individuals for certain wrong actions should not be adduced to the entire institution.

While recognising the military�s role in combating terrorism, it was observed that the political leadership should articulate a credible and comprehensive counter-narrative. The Group also underscored the urgency with which Parliament needs to debate and adopt a comprehensive legal framework to address grave threats of terrorism that have emerged in the past 5 years.

With Lt. Gen. (Retd) Moinuddin Haider, Former Governor Sindh, in the chair, members of the Group who joined the meeting included Dr. Imran Ali Professor of Economic History & Business Policy, KSBL, Mr. Sartaj Aziz, Former Federal Minister, Lt. Gen. (Retd.) Abdul Qadir Baloch, MNA, (NA 271 Kharan-cum-Panjgur, PML N), former Governor Balochistan, Lt. Gen (Retd.) Humayun Bangash, Former Ambassador, Air Vice Marshal (Retd.) Shahzad Chaudhry, Former Ambassador, Mr. Javed Jabbar, Former Federal Minister, Lt. Gen. (Retd.) Talat Masood, Former Secretary Defence, Vice Admiral (Retd) Khalid Mir, Former Ambassador, Mr. Rustam Shah Mohmand, Former Chief Secretary, Mr. Tasneem Noorani, Former Federal Secretary, Mr. Ashraf Jahangir Qazi, Former Ambassador, Dr. Hasan-Askari Rizvi, Defence and Political Analyst, Mr. Mujib-ur-Rehman Shami, Editor in Chief Daily Pakistan, Mr. S. M. Zafar, Former Federal Minister, Mr. Ahmed Bilal Mehboob, Executive Director PILDAT and Ms. Aasiya Riaz, Joint Director PILDAT.