The leaders of parliamentary parties, led by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, were on Wednesday given an in-camera briefing on the regional situation.
PM Shehbaz had invited parliamentary leaders and party heads to “sit down and develop a course of action so we can move forward”, Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar said on Tuesday while addressing the National Assembly.
The briefing began shortly after 11:30am and concluded after more than two hours. It mainly discussed the ongoing ‘Operation Ghazab lil-Haq’ against terrorist hideouts and the Middle East conflict.
“The meeting was given an in-camera briefing regarding the Pakistan-Afghanistan situation, the hostilities in Iran, Middle East and the Gulf, and Pakistan’s diplomatic efforts,” read a statement from the PM Office (PMO).
It added that the parliamentary leaders of the participating political parties “freely expressed their views”.
“The participants underscored the need for national unity, consensus and unanimity in the current circumstances,” the PMO statement said.
It noted that the attendees hailed Pakistan’s diplomatic efforts for peace, stressed the need to intensify them and made recommendations for the future plan of action.
“All participants reiterated their firm commitment for the eradication of terrorism from the country,” PMO stated, adding that the leaders also hailed PM Shehbaz’s “move to take the entire political leadership into confidence”.
While the ruling PML-N had extended the olive branch to the PTI and invited it to sit together for the sake of external and internal security threats to Pakistan, the PTI decided not to attend any meeting unless a meeting with its founder, Imran Khan, was arranged.
PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari and Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam–Fazl (JUI-F) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman were among prominent politicians who attended the briefing.
Other party leaders included Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui from the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P), Abdul Aleem Khan from Istehkam-i-Pakistan Party (IPP), Khalid Hussain Magsi from Balochistan Awami Party (BAP) and PML-Q’s Chaudhry Salik Hussain.
Senators part of the briefing included PPP’s Sherry Rehman, BAP’s Manzoor Ahmed Kakar, PML-N’s Pervaiz Rasheed, MQM-P’s Faisal Subzwari, National Party’s (NP) Jan Muhammad, Anwarul Haq Kakar and Hafiz Abdul Kareem.
MNAs participating in the meeting included PPP’s Naveed Qamar, MQM-P’s Farooq Sattar and Aminul Haque, as well as NP’s Pullain Baloch.
Senate Chairman Yousaf Raza Gilani, NA Speaker Sardar Ayaz Sadiq, Senate Deputy Chairman Syedal Khan Nasar and NA Deputy Speaker Ghulam Mustafa Shah were also present in the meeting.
Cabinet members who attended it included Deputy PM and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar, Information Minister Attaullah Tarar, Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar, Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Tariq Fazal Chaudhry, Health Minister Mustafa Kamal, and Public Affairs Minister Rana Mubashir Iqbal.
PM’s Advisor on Political Affairs Rana Sanaullah and Special Assistant to PM on Political Affairs Talha Burki attended as well.
