ISLAMABAD: A meeting of the Parliamentary Committee on National Security will be held in Islamabad on Thursday (today) to discuss the matters pertaining to the security of the country and the situation in Afghanistan.
The important leaders of the opposition parties, have been invited to attend the meeting and will be taken into confidence on recent developments in Afghanistan and national security.
NA Speaker Asad Qaiser will chair the in-camera meeting convening at 3PM. Interior Minister Sheikh Rasheed, Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi, and Defence Minister Pervaiz Khattak will also be part of the proceedings.
Issues related to national security will be on the agenda. Leader of the Opposition Shehbaz Sharif, PPP chairperson Bilawal Bhutto and other lawmakers were also invited. The meeting will also discuss the current situation in Afghanistan and its impact on Pakistan.
Senate Chairman Sadiq Sanjrani, federal ministers and parliamentarians have been specially invited for the briefing. Chief of Army Staff General Qamar Bajwa and Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) chief General Faiz Hamid will also attend the meeting.
Earlier Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi has said a meeting of the Parliamentary Committee on National Security will be held in Islamabad to discuss the Afghan situation.
Responding to the points of the opposition members in the National Assembly on Wednesday, the foreign minister said leaders of the opposition parties invited to attend the meeting will be taken into confidence with regards to recent developments in Afghanistan and tnational security. He said that opposition parties were also invited to the foreign office where they were briefed about Pakistan’s viewpoint on the Afghan situation.
PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has announced that he will be attending the National Security Committee (NSC) meeting on Afghanistan.
Taking to Twitter, Bilawal said that he had demanded on the National Assembly for a briefing for the Parliament on the situation in Afghanistan by the relevant departments and institutions. “We welcome speaker’s decision and will participate in NSC committee meeting on the topic,” said the PPP chairperson.
Later, while speaking to the media outside the parliament, Bilawal claimed that the speaker had summoned a meeting of the NSC on his party’s recommendation. He also said that he does not consider Prime Minister Imran Khan’s comments on giving military bases to the US after the withdrawal of NATO troops.
“We will keep our point of view over giving military bases in the NSC committee,” said Bilawal. He also claimed that the NSC was formed on the recommendation of the PPP.
