Rabbani demands parliament’s joint sitting on Afghan situation

ISLAMABAD: Former Senate chairman Senator Mian Raza Rabbani, while reiterating his demand to convene the session of the Parliament on the emerging situation in Afghanistan, said that the situation in Afghanistan is maturing on an hour to hour basis, Pakistan will have to take far reaching decisions that will require a national consensus, but the opposition has not been taken into confidence.

“At this critical time the Senate and the National Assembly, separately, need to be in session and briefed by the government on daily basis and it is demanded that the people and political parties be taken into confidence immediately because any decision by the government will have a direct effect on them,” he said.

Presenting the six point agenda for discussion in the parliamentary committee on national security that be elected by the joint sitting of the Parliament with equal representation, he proposed that the committee should discuss the Afghan situation and its regional consequences.

2. The question of recognition of a Taliban in Kabul.

3. The escalation of the intra-Afghan conflict into a civil war, its impact on Pakistan’s internal security.

4. The policy Pakistan needs to adopt in order to contain religious extremism and terrorism within.

5. Pakistan’s policy with reference to internally displaced persons in the eventuality of a civil war in Afghanistan.

6. To discuss the diplomatic initiatives required to stop the world from pointing a finger at Pakistan.

If this trend is not countered immediately, it can have short and long term repercussions on Pakistan’s economic ties with the world.