ISLAMABAD: Chief of the Army Staff (COAS) Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa will brief the parliamentarians next week on “hostile situation at Line of Control” in the aftermath of recent tension between India and Pakistan.

The briefing, to be held at the General Headquarters (GHQ) in Rawalpindi on April 4, will be attended by the members of standing committees of the National Assembly and Senate on defence.

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It will be the second briefing by the COAS to the parliamentarians over one month. Earlier, parliamentarians were briefed in an in-camera session held at Parliament House on Feb 27, the day the Pakistan Air Force shot down two Indian fighter jets. However, Prime Minister Imran Khan did not attend the briefing.

Members of NA, Senate defence committees to attend briefing on April 4

The briefing would be attended by a number of prominent leaders from the opposition parties, including former ministers, as they are members of the two committees.

According to a notification issued by the National Assembly Secretariat, chairman of the NA committee Amjad Ali Khan would lead the MNAs’ delegation. Members of committee include Tahir Sadiq, Chaudhry Farrukh Altaf, Syed Faizul Hassan, Barjees Tahir, Ijaz Ahmad Shah, Riazul Haq, Mohammad Khan Daha, Aurangzeb Khichi, Alam Dad Laleka, Riaz Hussain Pirzada, Ghous Bux Mahar, Khursheed Ahmed Junejo, Aftab Shaban Mirani, Amer Ali Magsi, Jamil Ahmed Khan, Syed Aminul Haque, Salahuddin Ayubi, Rubina Irfan and Ramesh Kumar Vankwani.

Minister of Defence Pervez Khattak has also been invited as he is ex-officio member of both standing committees.

The MNAs have been told to assemble at Gate No 1 of Parliament House at 10am and those who intend to proceed directly to GHQ have been asked to provide registration numbers of their vehicles before the meeting.

A notification issued by the Senate Secretariat says that Chairman of Senate standing committee on defence Azam Swati will lead the members. The members who will be attending the briefing include Rehman Malik, Sherry Rehman, Anwarul Haq Kakar, Chaudhry Tanvir Khan, Khushbakht Shujaat, retired Lt Gen Abdul Qayyum, Kabeer Ahmed Mohammad Shahi, Javed Abbasi, Talha Mahmood, Mushahid Hussain Sayed, Mushtaq Ahmed and Sajjad Hussain Turi.

A few days ago Prime Minister Imran Khan had said that the possibility of a misadventure from India could not be ignored.

Earlier Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi had said that the armed forces needed to remain alert as the Narendra Modi government might make another misadventure before Indian elections.

Published in Dawn, March 31st, 2019