Opposition alliance not attending today’s key meeting on security ‘without Imran’

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 in-camera meeting of the Parli­amentary Committee on National Security comes amid recent heightened attacks on security personnel and other law enforcement agencies, particularly in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan.

Just this month, Balochistan witnessed the rare Jaffar Express hijacking which resulted in at least 31 lives being lost, a suicide blast in Noshki District that left five dead, and multiple assaults on KP police, among other incidents.

The country’s top civilian and military leaders have assembled at Parliament House this afternoon to discuss measures to curb terrorism, with the committee expected to take important decisions in this regard.

The PTI had said yesterday that it would attend the security moot but sought a meeting with its jailed founder Imran ahead of the meeting. Joining its demand, TTAP chief Mahmood Khan Achakzai said today: “The PTI founder should also be invited to such a meeting and without him, no meeting will have significance.”

During the opposition’s joint press conference held at KP House in Islamabad, Achakzai — also the Pashtoonkhwa Milli Awami Party (PkMAP) chief — said that representatives from every political party should be invited to any meeting on national security.

Achakzai was flanked by PTI Secretary General Salman Akram Raja, Majlis Wahdat-i-Muslimeen (MWM) chief Senator Raja Nasir Abbas, and Sunni Ittehad Council’s (SIC) MNA Sahibzada Hamid Raza.

“Pakistan’s dire circumstances require a joint session of parliament. [However], everyone should have a chance to speak in the joint session,” Achakzai asserted.

The PkMAP chief further claimed that the superintendent of Rawalpindi’s Adiala Jail, where Imran is incarcerated, does not allow PTI leaders or other MNAs to meet the ex-premier.

“If no one is allowed to meet him, it should be announced that the founder of PTI is a dangerous man who is not allowed to meet [anyone],” the PkMAP chief quipped.

“If we go to this meeting, they will later say that such and such people were in disagreement,” he added, apparently referring to government leaders highlighting rifts within the opposition.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Chief of Army Staff General Asim Munir are attending the security briefing. The meeting was expected to begin at 11am, according to state-run Radio Pakistan.

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.

The Sindh minister further said that his party had “always been the target of terrorism […] but they (terrorists) never attacked any major party”.

Apparently criticising Imran for “favouring talks with the Taliban”, Memon said “parties with the Taliban’s support” were not attending today’s meeting.