ISLAMABAD: Chief of Army Staff (COAS) Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa
and the Director General of Military Operations (DGMO), Maj Gen Sahir
Shamshad Mirza, will brief the Senate Committee of the Whole House on
the national security situation in the country during an in-camera
session on Tuesday (tomorrow).
Through a notice, the
Senate Secretariat on Sunday informed all the senators about the
extraordinary meeting, to be presided over by Senate Chairman Raza
Rabbani.
It will be after six years that the military
leadership will be coming to the Parliament House for a presentation to
the elected representatives on the security situation.
Last
time it was in May 2011 when then army chief Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani
and Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) director general Lt Gen Ahmed
Shuja Pasha had briefed a joint session of parliament about the
Abbottabad operation in which Al Qaeda head Osama bin Laden had been
killed by the US forces.
In May 2009, then DGMO Maj Gen
Javed Iqbal had briefed a joint sitting of parliament about the security
situation and the military operations against terrorists in Mingora and
Swat.
According to the one-point agenda issued for
Tuesday’s meeting of the Committee of the Whole House formed by the
chairman “to prepare policy guidelines in the light of the emerging
regional realities and the role of the United States”, the army chief
and the DGMO will give a “briefing on the emerging national security
paradigm for Pakistan with respect to recent visits / developments”.
Sources
told Dawn that the decision to give the briefing to the senators had
been taken voluntarily by the military leadership after seeing media
reports about criticism in the Senate on the federal government and the
military leadership for not taking the parliament into confidence over
the recent developments, including the change in Washington’s policy
towards Islamabad following the controversial remarks of US President
Donald Trump about the role of Pakistan in the war on terror, border
clashes with Afghan forces and Pakistan’s decision to become a part of a
military alliance under Saudi Arabia.
During a visit of
the members of the defence committee of the Senate and the National
Assembly to the army’s General Headquarters (GHQ) in Rawalpindi in
September, Army Chief Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa had said that he wanted
“enhanced interaction” with the parliament.
Gen Bajwa had
reportedly told the parliamentarians that he was an ardent supporter of
democracy and believed in the supremacy of parliament. The army chief
said he was ready to appear before the defence committee or any
‘committee of the whole house’ and answer any queries that the
parliamentarians might have.
The parliamentarians had
raised many of the oft-discussed issues, including security operations,
military courts, defence budget, engagement with the US, tensions with
India, problems in relations with Afghanistan, and civil-military
relations. The interactive session, which was originally planned for 30
minutes, had gone on for nearly three hours.
Last week,
during a discussion on an adjournment motion about the “key commitments
made by the federal government to the Islamic Military Counter-Terrorism
Coalition without taking the parliament into confidence” in the Senate,
the senators had expressed concerns over the government’s decision to
become part of the Saudi-led military coalition and asked it to disclose
the terms of reference of the force and warned against entering into
any proxy war.
They had urged the government to explain
the military component of the arrangement, particularly the position to
be taken by Pakistan in case the force was sent to a Muslim country.
Some of them had expressed fears that the alliance had in fact been put
together to act against Iran.
They had cited the
parliamentary decision given in the form of a resolution at the
beginning of the ongoing crisis in Yemen, which held that Pakistan
should not join any military alliance, and said the government should
have consulted parliament in the same manner in this case as well.
Farhatullah
Babar of the Pakistan Peoples Party had stated that it was frightening
that both the Foreign Office and parliament were in the dark about the
terms of reference of the alliance even after its formal launch in
Riyadh.
Mr Babar had mentioned in his speech that the
army chief had undertaken a visit to Iran, but parliament was still
unaware as to what transpired during that trip. He had asked the chair
to give a ruling on the matter.
Chairman Raza Rabbani remarked in a lighter vein that he too would become a “victim of enforced disappearances” if he did so.
Nasreen
Jalil of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement, without naming former army chief
Gen Raheel Sharif, had regretted that a “great soldier of Pakistan” had
been sent to lead the coalition “without knowing its aims and
objectives”.
Senators from other parties had also criticised the government for concealing important information from parliament.
