National Command Authority (Pakistan)
Template:Short description Template:Use Pakistani English Template:Use dmy dates Template:Infobox government agency
The National Command Authority (NCA) is the authority responsible for safeguarding the national security of Pakistan through command, control and operational decisions regarding Pakistan's nuclear weapons programme.[1]
With Prime Minister of Pakistan being its Chairperson, the NCA maintains and enhances the control and operational effectiveness of Pakistan's nuclear weapons stockpile and serves as a policy institute regarding weapons of mass destruction in Pakistan.[1]
Established in 2000 along with its secretariat, Strategic Plans Division, the NCA was a direct successor to the Air Force Strategic Command which was established by the then-Chief of Air Staff Air Chief Marshal Anwar Shamim in 1983.[2]
Overview
The Government of Pakistan felt the need to establish an administrative authority after Pakistan's first publicly announced atomic tests, Chagai-I and Chagai-II, in late May 1998 at the Ras Koh Range in the Chagai Hills, and the Kharan Desert of Balochistan Province. The roots of such mechanism traced back to the 1970s when Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto authorized the atomic bomb project to keep the projects safe from being exploited, politicized, or infiltrated by enemy powers attempting to sabotage them.[3]
In April 1999, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee and the Chief of Army Staff, General Pervez Musharraf developed a unified central command system to use nuclear and missile technology as part of the defence and security of nuclear assets under government control.[2]
The command was formally established on February 3, 2000, after approval by Pakistan's National Security Council.[4] The command compromises the Employment Control Committee (ECC), the Development Control Committee (DCC), and a Strategic Plans Division (SPD).[5] The Prime Minister— Chief Executive (Head of Government) of the country serves as its chairman while other members included the high-profile Ministers of Foreign Affairs, Defence (Military Production), Economic, Science, and Interior.[5] The DCC includes the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff committee (as deputy chairman of DCC), the chiefs of the armed forces, the director general of the SPD, and a "representative of the strategic organization and scientific community (science adviser)".[5][4] The Joint Staff Headquarters (JS HQ) served its combatant operational command.
Pervez Musharraf, as President of Pakistan, served as its first chairman. However, after the 2008 General Elections, Pakistani lawmakers introduced a new law which was passed unanimously by the Pakistani Parliament.[6] The bill placed the NCA under the Prime Minister’s authority.[1][3]
Organizational structure
The NCA consists of the following nine ex officio members:[7]
The DG of the NCA's Strategic Plans Division (SPD) is the ex officio Secretary of the NCA and the SPD functions as the NCA's secretariat.[7]
Decision making in the NCA takes place through consensus and, in the event that consensus is not achieved, then through voting, with each member having a single vote.
Subordinate units
Strategic Plans Division
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The directives of the National Command Authority are operationalized by the Strategic Plans Division (SPD) under the control of a Director-General at the rank of Lieutenant-General (Air Marshal or Vice-Admiral).[3] As of 2022, the director-general of the SPD is Yusuf Jamal.[10]
| Directors General of Strategic Plans Division | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Name | Start of Term | End of Term | Notes |
| Major-General Ziauddin Butt | 1990 | 1993 | As Combat Development DirectorateScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". |
| Lieutenant-General Zulfikar Ali Khan | 1993 | 2001 | As Combat Development DirectorateScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". |
| Lieutenant-General Khalid Kidwai | February 2000 | December 2013 | |
| Lieutenant-General Zubair Hyatt | December 2013 | April 2015 | |
| Lieutenant-General Mazhar Jamil | April 2015 | September 2017 | |
| Lieutenant-General Sarfraz Sattar | September 2017 | November 2019 [11] | |
| Lieutenant-General Nadeem Zaki Manj | November 2019 | October 2022 | |
| Lieutenant-General Yusuf Jamal | October 2022 | Present | |
Army Strategic Forces Command
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Air Force Strategic Command
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See also
References
External links
- CSIS Missile Threat - Pakistan
- National Command Authority Act, 2010
- Global Security Report
- FAS Report
Template:Military of Pakistan Template:Nuclear power in Pakistan Template:Project-706
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