Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: National Assembly Speaker Ayaz Sadiq has convened the fifth meeting of parliamentary parties on February 16 for consultations before tabling the bill of extending military courts. Nawaz Sharif has showed his full confidence on the initiative taken by the speaker. Sources told Daily Times that after the major opposition parties in parliament including PPP, PTI and MQM have agreed to the conditional extension of military courts in the country, the speaker has invited the leadership of the other opposition parties including Jammat-i-Islami, Pakistan Awami Muslim League, Jamhoori Watan Party and PML.

The meeting would consider matters related to the extension of military courts, amendment in NAB laws and reforms in the seminaries under National Action Plan (NAP). Earlier, the Pakistan Army had briefed the parliamentary party leaders on the matter. The military high-ups in their briefing urged that the extension in military courts is a must to eradicate terrorism and to fulfill the agenda of peace. It is likely that the top military bureaucracy along with Interior minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan and Law Minister Zahid Hamid also participate in the meeting. Whereas the allies of the government, including JUI-F, National Party (Balochistan) and Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party have assured Nawaz of their full support.