PM Abbasi chairs last National Security Committee meeting

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi on Tuesday chaired a meeting of the National Security Committee (NSC), the top civil-military body, to discuss different security issues.

The meeting, which may be the last huddle under PM Abbasi, was attended by three services chiefs and key ministers.

The issues related to overall security situation in the country, situation at the country’s frontiers, and implementation of the Fata reforms came under discussion, according to sources.

This was the third meeting of the top civil-military body in less than a month’s time. On May 20, a meeting of the NSC was held to endorse the merger of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Earlier on May 14, the committee met to discuss the situation arising out of former premier Nawaz Sharif’s controversial statement on alleged Pakistan’s role in the November 2008 Mumbai attacks.

The PML-N lifelong supreme leader, in an interview with a leading English daily, had said that “militant organisations are active” in Pakistan and asked the interviewer if the state should allow them to go across the border and kill 150 people in Mumbai.

Sharif, who was answering a question about his ouster, steered the conversation towards foreign policy and national security by saying that Pakistan has isolated itself in international arena despite giving sacrifices in war on terror.