THE National Security Council will be strengthened, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif declared on Wednesday — a statement that raises more questions than it answers. Perhaps the prime minister misspoke in referring to the NSC, for when the Defence Committee of the Cabinet was restructured in August, the NSC terminology was specifically avoided and what was birthed instead was the Cabinet Committee on National Security. The difference, presumably, was because of the civilians’ long-standing reluctance to institutionalise the security establishment’s role in the crafting of security and foreign policies, at least in a body like the NSC, which would operate alongside rather than under the cabinet. Since the CCNS is viewed as a compromise NSC, the prime minister’s misstatement could be seen as merely a slip of the tongue. Except, it does raise questions about the seriousness with which the government is working on a new security architecture and policy of the country. For if even the name of the body tasked with overseeing national security policy is misspoken, what does that say about the quality of the discussions within it?

More importantly, how, exactly, does this government intend to go about reorienting national security? Mr Sharif has repeatedly stated that the central planks of his security and foreign policies are better ties with neighbouring countries and an emphasis on trade. That means a focus on resetting ties with Afghanistan and India, while ending the domestic militancy and terrorism threat. But when it comes to taking meaningful steps towards those goals, the PML-N has had little to offer so far. Even the latest step it has taken on the dialogue front with the TTP is more bewildering than reassuring, with few able to understand how Samiul Haq’s induction as an interlocutor between the government and the TTP will work alongside the other channels the government had shown interest in following.

To expect some major overhaul in six months of policy problems that are as complicated as they are old would be unrealistic. But it is the lack of initiative and ideas on the government’s part that is truly worrying. On Wednesday, Mr Sharif touted his government’s attempts to facilitate talks between the Afghan Taliban and the Karzai government — but then in late November Mr Sharif had to stand next to Mr Karzai in Kabul and pledge to allow Afghan officials to meet Mullah Baradar months after he had been allegedly released by the Pakistani state. Everything the government claims to be pursuing on the security- and foreign-policy fronts seems to be rehashed versions of previous attempts that no government was really able to follow through on. Where there is originality — as with Mr Sharif’s unquestioned desire to rapidly normalise ties with India — there are just words and meetings. Change will only come if the prime minister is willing to back up words with actions.