ISLAMABAD: Ex premier Shahid Khaqan Abbasi said Monday that he felt some of the government ministers were clueless of what was going on today in the Parliamentary Committee meeting on National Security but the huddle discussed at length the matters of national interest, ARY News reported.
The former prime minister and Pakistan Mulsim League – Nawaz (PML-N) leader, Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, said in an exclusive interview in ARY’s Power Play where he termed the meeting today a step towards the right direction.
He said the joint parliamentary session mulled over a number of issues facing the country including strategic matters and events in Afghanistan.
It is hoped that this session will guide the government towards a reasonable direction, he said. However, the former PM said that some ministers seemed naive on what was happening and why the meeting was convened.
The matters relating to the Tehreek e Taliban Pakistan (TTP) cannot be simply resolved via means of talks, he said. The parliamentary debates must be held first before signing an agreement with a terrorist outfit, he said.
If TLP politics is restored, why isn’t MQM-P’s? Asks Khalid Maqbool
We are not told of any ceasefire agreement with the TTP and only after Prime Minister Imran Khan’s interview did we find out about the events. In the developments with Tehreek e Labbaik Pakistan (TLP), too, the parliament was not taken in confidence by the government, he said.
Separately today, the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan’s (MQM-P) Convenor Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui said during the Parliamentary Committee meeting on National Security that if TLP can be restored to exercise its political rights, then his party should also be allowed to reopen its offices across Karachi.
If you can de-proscribe TLP then what’s wrong with allowing MQM-P the status of a filly restored political party with the right to open its offices and conduct political activities? Asked Siddiqui during the parliamentary huddle.
We demand our workers to be released and our offices to be allowed operations, said MQM-P during the in-camera session where Prime Minister Imran Khan was not present to chair it, sources told ARY News.
