Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry announced on Friday the reasons for Prime Minister Imran Khan’s absence from the military leadership’s national security briefing in parliament.
Speaking to Geo Pakistan today, the information minister said: “The prime minister is supposed to attend the national security meeting, but opposition leader Shehbaz Sharif has told the speaker that if the prime minister comes to the briefing, he will not attend.”
The day before, the National Assembly held a closed session of the Parliamentary National Security Committee which lasted more than eight hours.
Lieutenant General Faiz Hamid spent more than two hours briefing lawmakers on Afghanistan and the regional security scenario.
The meeting, co-chaired by Senate spokesman Sadiq Sanjarani and National Assembly spokesman Assad Kaiser, was attended by 29 members of the parliamentary committee for national security and 16 other lawmakers, including federal ministers and parliament leaders.
The meeting was also attended by the Chief of Army Staff (COAS), Chamber General Javed Baiva, National Security Adviser Dr. Moid Yusuf and four prime ministers attended.
Repeating earlier talks, Fawad said the government hopes and prays for a peaceful transfer of power in Afghanistan.
“We’re only concerned if India uses Afghan land against us,” he continued. “[We will continue to try to mediate between the Afghan Taliban and the Ghani government in the interim.]”
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