Rising terrorist assaults in Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) have the country’s civil-military leadership attending a vital in-camera session of the Parliamentary Committee on National Security (PCNS) today, Tuesday.
Convenced by NA Speaker Ayaz Sadiq on the advise of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, the lower house session will include a thorough briefing to the parliamentary committee on the current security scenario by the military leadership.
PM Shehbaz, Chief of Army Staff (COAS), General Asim Munir, Lieutenant General Asim Malik, chief ministers of all four provinces, and other high officials are attending the conference.
Not attending the high-level huddle, however, are some important personalities including Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi, NA Opposition Leader Omar Ayub and members of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI).
Military leadership will brief legislators on the security situation, claims PM’s assistant on Political and Public Affairs Rana Sanaullah.
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Days following last week’s horrific attack by the banned Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) militants who blew up rail tracks and held over 440 hostages in a day-long standoff with security officials in a remote mountain pass in the Bolan district, the high-level huddle comes.
Following train clearance and hostages rescue, the military claimed to have killed thirty-three assailants. Four security guards were martyred during the operation; terrorists had killed 26 passengers before it started.
There were five citizens, three officials from Pakistan Railways and other departments, eighteen army and FC security guards among the martyred train passengers.
The closed-door conference also fits in light of concerning numbers exposed in the Global Terrorism Index 2025 study, which ranks Pakistan as the second most afflicted nation by terrorism.
One of the fastest increases worldwide, the nation, which ranked second from its previously fourth position, had an alarming 45% spike in terrorism-related deaths, with total climbing from 748 in 2023 to 1,081 in 2024.
From 517 in 2023 to 1,099 in 2024—also the first year when attacks topped the 1,000 mark since the Index’s founding—the count of terror incidents more than doubled.
With a border with neighboring Afghanistan, Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa remain the most severely impacted provinces; they also accounted for over 96% of all terrorist attacks and deaths in Pakistan in 2024.
Speaking during the conference, PM Shehbaz underlined that terrorism has turned into a threat for the nation and reaffirmed the will to eliminate this evil.
Knowing they could not overlook the martyrs’ sacrifices, the top paid respect to those who had given their lives for the nation.
NA Speaker Sadiq, meantime, criticized the opposition for its unsatisfactory choice to miss the in-camera meeting.
“The opposition leader and his party should have participated in the meeting of utmost importance,” the speaker added, terming the opposition’s behavior opposite to the parliamentary resolutions.
PTI declined to participate in a high-level huddle
The crucial conference will take place amid the backdrop of general political division since the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) has declared it will skip the in- camera session.
The party had insisted that the government set up a meeting between its leaders and Imran Khan, the PTI founder incarcerated in Adiala jail Rawalpindi.
PTI Secretary General Salman Akram Raja declared at a press conference in Islamabad that the party has opted not to show up for the conference.
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He informed the reporters that the choice was decided upon during a political committee meeting yesterday.
Except for KP Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur, who is really attending the huddle in his position as the province’s representation, Raja stated that none of any PTI representatives would take part.
The decision of PTI against attending the session comes a day following the announcement of multi-party opposition alliance Tehreek-e-Tahaffuz-e-Ayeen-e-Pakistan (TTAP), headed by Mahmood Khan Achakzai, to boycott the session.
Furthermore announcing their absence from the conference were Balochistan National Party-Mengal (BNP-M) head Sardar Akhtar Mengal and Chairman Allama Raja Nasir Abbas of Majlis Wahdat-e-Muslimeen (MWM).
Speaking to the media, TTAP chief Mahmood Khan Achakzai said Pakistan is entering a somewhat perilous time.
Declaring that a winning party had been manipulated to lose in the elections, Achakzai expressed remorse that those in charge of electoral fraud were the very people who had sworn allegiance to preserve the Constitution.
The politician also insisted on a two-day joint session of Parliament where every legislative member should get briefing. He attacked policies prohibiting party officials from seeing PTI founder.
Declaring that they should either let access or name the PTI founder a dangerous person banned from gatherings, he cautioned that prison authorities will be held responsible.
Achakzai also asked how his party might accept an invitation from what he called a “unconstitutional prime minister.”
He underlined that any national security conference should have leaders from all political parties, including the PTI founder, without whom such debates would have no meaning.
Furthermore underlined by him was the need of including Jamaat-e-Islami officials at national security conferences.
Chief Sahibzada Hamid Raza of the Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) revealed that at first his party had insisted on an in-camera session.
The names of the representatives were turned in the day before under specific criteria. Later, the political committee decided against attending, Raza clarified.
Declaring that progress could not be achieved without involving the PTI founder into confidence, the SIC chief further characterised him as a significant leader and said that negotiations should take precedence over military operations. Otherwise, popular support would not be obtained.
