Daily Times

LAHORE: The Senate’s Standing Committee on Defence will summon Lieutenant General (retd) Asad Durrani to explain his position on co-authoring a book, The Spy Chronicles, with former chief of Indian spy agency A. S. Dulat, Senator Azam Swati, the committee chairman, told the media on after an in-camera session of the committee on Wednesday.

The emergency session was called on a proposal floated by the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) senator Rehman Malik. Senator Swati chaired the meeting. Representatives of the Defence Ministry briefed the committee on the investigation underway against the former spy chief. The committee members reportedly communicated their reservations on the matter and also passed on their recommendations.

Speaking to the media after the meeting, Swati said the meeting was called on an urgent basis, adding that it was decided that the defence ministry would be given additional to further brief the committee. The next session of the committee would be held on on July 11 and 12, he said, adding that the committee had informed the defence ministry of its recommendations. Swati said that there was unanimous agreement among committee members that Durrani was wrong in co-authoring the book. He said Pakistan’s relations with the United States were at a crucial stage, and the country needed to maintain good ties with the global superpower.

Further, Swati said the matter would be sent to the Senate’s Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs for further action.

Published in Daily Times, June 28^th 2018.