No decision on military courts till consensus: govt

Parliamentary parties meeting ends without headway;
opposition suggests parliament’s in-camera joint sitting

ISLAMABAD: Adviser to the PM on Law Barrister Zafarullah said on Tuesday that on the issue of an extension in the military courts, the government would not take any step without the consensus of the opposition.

While talking to media persons after the meeting of the parliamentary parties on the issue of an extension in the military courts, he said, “The government gave a briefing in detail and the opposition had raised some questions and it was the opposition’s right to raise the questions while it was the government's task to reply to these questions. We will respond to the questions in the next meeting scheduled to be held on January 31.” 

He said the government took the opposition into confidence on the issues of military courts and implementation of the National Action Plan. “All the political parties have had a consensus in the meeting that there will be no politics on this issue,” he added.

Earlier, the opposition in the meeting of the parliamentary leaders with the National Assembly Speaker Sardar Ayaz Sadiq in the chair proposed to the government to convene an in-camera joint session of both the houses of parliament and also invited the top security and intelligence agency officials to give a briefing on the issue of terrorism and the overall performance of the military courts as well as the implementation of the National Action Plan (NAP).

The government assured that it would take up the proposal of opposition with Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.

The meeting of the parliamentary leaders ended inconclusively as the opposition sought answers from the government on the issue of implementation of the National Action Plan, religious seminaries and banned outfits.

The government will answer the opposition's specific questions in the next meeting, which would be held on January 31.

It was the second meeting on the issue of an extension in military courts as the first meeting also remained inconclusive in which the opposition sought a briefing on the two-year performance of the military courts.

Talking to newsmen after the meeting, Opposition Leader in the National Assembly Syed Khursheed Shah said the issue of an extension in military courts was not of the government but of the state and not a  matter between the government and the opposition. “We had asked some specific questions from the government and would get response to the questions in a meeting of January 31,” he added.

Asked about the briefing on the performance of the military courts, he said that in Tuesday's meeting, some questions were raised and the government would reply to these in the meeting of January 31.

In a separate talk with newsmen after the meeting, National Assembly's Speaker Sardar Ayaz Sadiq said that the opposition had sought some clarification, which would be given in the next meeting.

He said all the parliamentary leaders had given their opinion in the meeting with an open mind and everyone was taking it positively and in the best national interest.

While talking to newsmen after the meeting, senior PTI leaders Shah Mehmood Qureshi and Dr Shireen Mazari said some new questions were raised in the briefing on the performance of the military courts.

Shah Mehmood Qureshi said the opposition had proposed to the government to convene an in-camera session of both the houses of parliament in which the security and intelligence agencies should give a detailed briefing. “The issues were sensitive,” he said.