DG ISI briefs MPs on national security

An in-camera meeting of the Parliamentary Committee on National Security has commenced at the Parliament House to discuss several important issues, including the situation in Afghanistan.

Apart from the internal situation, the in-camera session is being briefed about the situation in Afghanistan, India, and Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK), said sources. Director-General of the InterServices Intelligence (ISI) Lieutenant General Faiz Hameed is briefing the parliamentary committee, while the Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Qamar Javed Bajwa and the DirectorGeneral of the Inter-Services Public Relations (DG ISPR) Major General Babar Iftikhar are also in attendance.

Important leaders of the Opposition parties in Parliament have been invited to attend the meeting as they will be taken into confidence with regards to the recent developments in Afghanistan and national security, according to Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi.

These Opposition leaders include the Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Shehbaz Sharif, Leader of the Opposition in the Senate Senator Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani, PPP Chairperson Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, JUI-F Parliamentary leader Maulana Asad Mahmood, and ANP leader Ameer Haider Azam Khan Hoti. Prime Minister Imran Khan is not attending the meeting.

Carrying of mobile phones inside the meeting room is prohibited, therefore, the phones of all participants have been taken away. The audio and video recording of the meeting will be sealed before the Speaker. Bilawal had earlier announced that he will be attending the National Security Committee (NSC) meeting on Afghanistan after welcoming National Assembly Speaker Asad

Qaiser's decision to call a meeting of the body. Taking to Twitter on Monday, Bilawal had said that he had demanded in the National Assembly that the Parliament be given a briefing on the situation in Afghanistan by the relevant departments and institutions.

"We welcome the Speaker's decision and will participate in the NSC committee meeting on the topic," the PPP chairperson had tweeted. Pakistan has, on multiple occasions, raised the issue of peaceful settlement of the Afghan imbroglio and has urged all the groups to sit and sort out their differences.

PM Imran Khan, in his interaction with the US media, pointed out that there's no military solution and that there's no favourite for Pakistan. Violence has increased in the wartorn country since the foreign troops' withdrawal started. In a recent interview, National Security Adviser Dr Moeed Yusuf also expressed concern on the current Afghanistan situation, saying that "it is not good".