The National Assembly’s Standing Committee on Defence will visit the General Headquarters (GHQ) on April 4 on the invitation of Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Qamar Javed Bajwa, a private TV channel reported.
The army chief will give a detailed briefing to the committee, comprising parliamentarians from the opposition as well, over the situation at the Line of Control (LoC), the Working Boundary and other international borders. The parliamentarians will also be apprised regarding military’s response to provocations by India in the bordering areas. The army chief will take the defence committee into confidence over matters relating to the armed forces. The committee will also pay a visit to the Yadgar-e-Shuhada. The standing committee, led by Amjid Ali Khan, includes Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s Tahir Sadiq, Chaudhry Farrukh Altaf, Syed Faizul Hassan, Ijaz Ahmad Shah, Aurangzeb Khan Khichi, Jamid Ahmed Khan and Ramesh Kumar Vankwani.
Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) lawmakers are Chaudhry Barjees Tahir, Riazul Haq, Muhammad Khan Daha, Alam Dad Laleka and Mian Riaz Hussain Pirzada. While Khursheed Ahmed Junejo, Aftab Shahban Mirani and Mir Amer Ali Khan Magsi represent the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP). Grand Democratic Alliance’s Ghous Bux Khan Mahar, Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan’s Syed Aminul Haque, Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal’s Salahuddin Ayubi and Balochistan Awami Party’s (BAP) Rubina Irfan are also members of the committee. In February, the top civil and military leadership had briefed parliamentary leaders on the situation on Pakistan’s eastern border at an in-camera session held at the Parliament House.