Daily Times

While rejecting speculations about opposition’s possible boycott of an in-camera meeting of the Parliamentary Committee on National Security scheduled for Monday (November 8), the major opposition parties reaffirmed on Thursday that they would attend the meeting.

At press conference, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Information Secretary Marriyum Aurangzeb said that her party would follow the political and democratic tradition and will attend the meeting. While recalling, she reiterated that her party had always participated in such meetings in the past. “President Shehbaz Sharif will give PML-N’s position at the meeting. The joint opposition will also attend the meeting,” she confirmed.

When Daily Times contacted a senior member of the PPP, he said there was no reality in the news that the party is going to boycott the meeting. “PPP never believes in such politics so it will participate with full zeal,” he maintained.

NA Speaker Asad Qaiser has convened the committee meeting for November 8 for a briefing by military officials on the current national security issues. As per statement issued by the NA Secretariat, the meeting will be held at 11am at the main hall of the National Assembly for which invitations have been sent to more than 80 people, including MNAs, senators, members of the federal cabinet, four provincial chief ministers and Azad Jammu and Kashmir prime minister.

The members of the parliament are expected to raise the issue of recent controversial and secret agreement signed by the government with the banned Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) as the agenda issued by the National Assembly Secretariat says that the members can raise any item during the meeting with the permission of the chair.

This will be the third meeting of the committee. Its last meeting was held in September to discuss the regional security situation in the wake of the developments that were taking place in Afghanistan. The meeting that had taken place only days before Taliban takeover of Kabul had been attended by Chief of Army Staff Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa and Director General of the Inter-Service Intelligence Lt-Gen Faiz Hameed.