NA in-camera session on national security begins

ISLAMABAD: An in-camera session of the National Assembly is underway where the military leadership is expected to brief the lawmakers on ongoing security situation in the country, ARY News reported on F

National Assembly Speaker Raja Parvez Ashraf is chairing the session.

All federal ministers, advisers, MNAs and chief ministers have been invited to this national security meeting. Secretaries of interior, foreign affairs, finance, defence and information and broadcasting have also been invited to attend the meeting while the four provincial chief ministers, chief secretaries and IGPs were also issued special invitations by the NA Secretariat.

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Sources privy to the development told ARY News that Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Asim Munir and Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) Chief Lt Gen Nadeem Ahmed Anjum will give a detailed overview of the current situation to the members.

Speaking in the National Assembly on Thursday, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said the lawmakers would be allowed to raise their questions and concerns regarding security situation at the special session.

The meeting comes days after the National Security Committee (NSC) approved a multi-pronged comprehensive operation with the support of the government and the nation to eradicate the menace of terrorism from the country with a new resolve, determination and valour.

The federal ministers, Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee, services chiefs and high-ranking officers of the departments concerned attended the meeting, which was a continuation of the meeting held after the terrorist attack on the Peshawar Police Lines on January 2, 2023.

At the start of the meeting, the participants paid tribute to those who were martyred in the Gayari sector tragedy on April 7, 2012.

Emphasizing comprehensive national security, it was declared that relief to the people was of central importance. The forum was told that the government was taking measures in this connection.

The meeting acknowledged the sacrifices and efforts of the security forces for ensuring permanent peace for the nation.

The committee proclaimed that the recent wave of terrorism was the result of the soft corner and the absence of a well-thought-out policy against the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), which was declared a terrorist organization but against the public expectations and wishes, under the previous policy terrorists were allowed to return without any hindrance. In the name of confidence building, dangerous terrorists of the TTP were released from jails, it added.

A high-level committee was formed which within two weeks would present its recommendations for the implementation of the policy and to draw its parameters.