National Security Council of Pakistan

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The Prime minister Secretariat National Security Council is a consultative body that is chaired by the President of Pakistan and Prime minister of Pakistan. It is a principal forum that is mandated for considering national security and foreign policy matters with the senior national security advisors and Cabinet officials. The National Security Council was created by then-President and former Chief of Army Staff General Pervez Musharraf in April 2004 under the National Security Council Act. The function of the Council has been to advise and assist the President and Prime minister on national security and foreign policies.

[edit] Membership

As of today, the Council has 21 members:

Structure of the Pakistan National Security Council (Current)
Chairman	Asif Ali Zardari (President of Pakistan)
Vice Chairman	Yousaf Raza Gillani (Prime minister of Pakistan)
Military Advisor	General Khalid Shameem Wynne (Chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee)
Intelligence Advisor	Lieutenant General Ahmad Shuja Pasha (DG of Inter-Services Intelligence)
Science Advisor	Dr. Ishfaq Ahmad (Science Advisory Commission)
Cabinet Members	Hina Rabbani Khar (Minister of State for Foreign Affairs) Ahmad Mukhtar (Defence Minister of Pakistan) Abdul Hafeez Shaikh (Finance Minister of Pakistan) Rehman Malik (Interior Minister of Pakistan)
Military Members	General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani (Chief of Army Staff) Admiral Noman Bashir (Chief of Naval Staff) Air Chief Marshal Rao Qamar Suleman (Chief of Air Staff)
Civilian Members	Farooq H. Naek Chairman of Senate Dr. Fahmida Mirza Speaker of National Assembly Nisar Ali Khan Leader of the Opposition
Additional Members	Shahbaz Sharif (Chief Minister of Punjab) Aslam Raisani (Chief Minister of Balochistan) Qaim Ali Shah (Chief Minister of Sindh) Syed Mehdi Shah (Chief Minister of Gilgit-Baltistan) Ameer Haider Khan Hoti (Chief Minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) Asif Farooki (Prime Minister of Kashmir)

[edit] 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.

[edit] History

The National Security Council Act of April 2004 created the current version of the Council. President and Chief of Army Staff General Pervez Musharraf created the office in Aiwan-e-Sadr, and appoint civil bureaucrat Tariq Aziz as the National Security Advisor. He resigned from the post of NSC secretariat when Musharraf resigned from presidency on 18 August 2008. Pakistan Army's retired two-star general, Major-General Mahmud Ali Durrani, was appointed as the National Security Advisor, directly reporting to the Prime minister Secretariat. Major-General Durrani was fired by the Prime minister Yousaf Raza Gillani in January 2009 for "not consulting the Prime Minister while giving statements on foreign relation matters". The matter in question was the acceptance by the Government of Pakistan of the Pakistani nationality of the sole surviving terrorist Ajmal Kasab, who was involved in the 2008 Mumbai attacks and was in the custody of the Mumbai police. After the incident, Prime minister Gillani vowed to abolish the National Security Council in February 2009. However, the proposal was reject by the Parliament, and through, a Presidential ordnance, the National Security Council's office was moved to President's official residence, Aiwan-e-Sadr. As of today, the council has 21 members, and is chaired by the President of Pakistan.^[1]