Security briefing

Pakistan to talk with whoever is in power in Kabul in the interest of regional peace

Most of the information trickling out about the closed-door briefing that the military’s top brass gave legislators on Thursday appears to line up with recent public statements by top government functionaries, including the prime minister. The briefing had a significant focus on Afghanistan, where the US and Nato withdrawal is coinciding with territorial gains for the Taliban. The consensus is that the meeting agreed that Pakistan would talk with whoever is in power in Kabul in the interest of regional peace and will not interfere in the country’s domestic affairs.

Other key topics included border security — 90 per cent of the Afghan border has apparently been fenced — and the internal and external security situation in relation to the evolving geopolitical and strategic environment, particularly in the Kashmir region. Later, Army Chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa is said to have reiterated the government’s position that the US would not be allowed to use air or military bases in Pakistan.

Arguably, however, the bigger story was why PM Imran Khan decided to skip the meeting and instead attend the Kissan Conference. As important as agriculture is, we somehow feel that being present with opposition leaders to show that elected officials stand together on security issues would have sent a much more important and necessary message to friends and foes alike. It would also have been welcomed by the citizenry, which is bitterly divided along party lines.

If the opposition went ahead with ‘plans’ to walk out in Imran’s presence, as some reports claimed, it would only have benefitted the PTI government. National security should be above political bickering. Approaches may differ, but the broader goal — security for citizens and the state — is always the same. A walkout would have made the opposition look like this is not their priority. Instead, Imran gave PPP chief Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari the opportunity to call him out for his absence and even take credit for being the reason the meeting was taking place.

It also does not help that reports suggest National Assembly Speaker Asad Qaiser told the meeting that Imran’s decision not to attend was made at the last minute when several reputable journalists had already reported a day earlier that he would be skipping it.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 3^rd, 2021.

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