The opposition alliance Tehreek Tahaffuz-i-Ayeen Pakistan (TTAP) on Tuesday announced that it had decided not to participate in today’s high-level national moot on counterterrorism at Parliament House in the absence of incarcerated ex-premier Imran Khan.
The Parliamentary Committee on National Security met in camera amid increased attacks on security personnel and law enforcement agencies, particularly in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan.
This month, Balochistan saw the unusual Jaffar Express kidnapping, a suicide bombing in Noshki District that killed five, and many assaults on KP police.
The country’s senior civilian and military authorities met at Parliament House Thursday afternoon to discuss terrorism prevention, with the committee likely to make critical decisions.
The PTI announced yesterday that it will attend the security moot but wanted to speak with its incarcerated founder Imran beforehand. Today, TTAP chief Mahmood Khan Achakzai added: “The PTI founder should also be invited to such a meeting and without him, no meeting will have significance.”
Achakzai, the Pashtoonkhwa Milli Awami Party (PkMAP) head, stated at the opposition’s joint press conference at KP House in Islamabad that national security meetings should include representatives from all political parties.
Achakzai was accompanied by PTI Secretary General Salman Akram Raja, MWM chairman Senator Raja Nasir Abbas, and SIC MNA Sahibzada Hamid Raza.
A joint parliament session is needed for Pakistan’s critical situation. But everyone should be able to speak in the joint session, said Achakzai.
The PkMAP president also stated that Rawalpindi’s Adiala Jail superintendent doesn’t let PTI leaders or MNAs meet Imran.
“If no one is allowed to meet him, it should be announced that the PTI founder is a dangerous man who is not allowed to meet [anyone],” the PkMAP chairman joked.
“If we go to this meeting, they will later say that such and such people were in disagreement,” he said, referring to government figures highlighting opposition divisions.
Security briefing attendees include Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Army Chief General Asim Munir. State-run Radio Pakistan indicated the meeting will start at 11am.
Members of the National Assembly’s standing committees on Defence and Foreign Affairs, members of the federal cabinet, chief ministers of the four provinces, and leaders of all parliamentary parties or their representatives are attending the huddle.
The in-camera moot is being held under strict security arrangements, amid reports of multiple threats in the federal capital. As part of these security measures, media persons have been barred from Parliament House for one day, which is unusual, even for in-camera sessions.
Moreover, mobile phones were not to be permitted inside the National Assembly Hall during the session.
Gandapur to attend moot as KP CM: Salman Akram Raja
While PTI’s Raja announced “no representative from us will attend the meeting”, he said Ali Amin Gandapur would attend the high-level gathering as the KP chief minister.
Doubling down on his party’s stance, Raja said: “We demand that the PTI founder be released on parole.”
He stated that the PTI has refused to participate in the meeting, adding that the decision was made at a meeting of the party’s political committee yesterday.
“We are not in favour of any [military] operation at this time. [The people of Balochistan] have been suffering from these conditions for 77 years and we are not in favour of this situation,” Raja said.
“We have to fix this country and end fascism,” he added.
Initially, the PTI had decided to attend the security moot, with spokesperson Sheikh Waqqas Akram saying his party would give its input in the meeting. NA opposition leader Omar Ayub had also termed the consultation as crucial to aligning PTI’s position effectively on matters of national significance.
Sharjeel Memon slams PTI’s decision
Sindh Information Minister Sharjeel Inam Memon slammed the PTI for not attending the gathering of national importance.
“The PTI should have acted like a responsible party and a good Pakistani,” Memon told media in Karachi.
He added that there were reports of the recent attacks in Balochistan being carried out with India’s support. “India wants to weaken Pakistan.”
Memon claimed: “There have been attempts to weaken the country, in which some terrorist parties have been used and sometimes some political parties, which have also been provided funding [from India], have been used.
“And those same parties are not ready to stand with their country despite these attacks,” the PPP leader said, adding that the security briefing was likely not only on Balochistan but also KP, where the PTI is in power and “has a responsibility”.
“I strongly condemn this,” Memon said, referring to the PTI’s decision to boycott the moot.
Asserting that the “entire nation was standing united against terrorism”, he said the PPP had been the biggest victim of terrorism and extremism.
