Shehbaz calls for single narrative on Afghan situation

Opposition leader says that national consensus and a single narrative is imperative for Afghan issue

ISLAMABAD:

Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Shehbaz Sharif urged on Friday that an in-camera meeting, as well as a joint sitting of the parliament, be convened to discuss the Afghan situation unfolding after the Taliban takeover, saying the national interest required that all relevant stakeholders were on the same page.

In a statement, the PML-N leader laid stress on the need for a detailed and in-depth analysis of the emerging situation at a national and political level and called for looking into its possible impact on Pakistan, the region and beyond.

“The situation in Afghanistan holds consequences for the entire region,” Shehbaz pointed out.
Therefore, a “national consensus and single narrative” were vital to safeguard the interests of the country. “The national interest requires that all relevant stakeholders are on the same page,” he added.

The demand for calling a joint session has been echoing since Kabul fell to the Taliban without any resistance from the Afghan government and security forces on August 15.

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A day after the Taliban seized Kabul, the Senate Defence Committee asked the government to convene a joint session of parliament. Given the rapidly changing scenario in Afghanistan and the region, the committee had urged the government to take parliament into confidence by immediately convening a joint sitting to discuss the situation and propose a way forward so that Pakistan and Afghanistan can be partners in peace and progress.

Previously, PPP had demanded to convene a joint sitting of both the houses of parliament to deliberate upon the matter and formulate a policy to meet the challenges that lay ahead.

When asked about the delay in convening a joint sitting, the opposition parties’ lawmakers said that the government was trying to link the joint sitting with the presidential address, which will mark the beginning of the fourth parliamentary year for Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government.

In addition, they said, the government was waiting for something concrete to come out of the Afghanistan situation and, perhaps, after the Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi visits the region.

Earlier on July 1, lawmakers from different parties were apprised about the situation in Afghanistan and the future scenario as well as Pakistan’s strategy during an in-camera meeting of the Parliamentary Committee on National Security.

The military leadership had informed the selected members of parliament from both sides of the aisle in the in-camera session that Pakistan was ready to face any consequences but would not permit the US to establish any airbases on its soil.

The Parliamentary Committee was also informed that the US appeared to be deliberately leaving behind a “mismanaged and unstable” Afghanistan in order to undermine China, Pakistan and the region. The next meeting of the committee had to be convened before Eid but it has not yet happened.