Pakistan's top parliamentary panel meets on national security as opposition boycotts session
ISLAMABAD: An alliance of Pakistan's opposition parties on Tuesday declined to participate in an in-camera meeting of the Parliamentary Committee on National Security, which has been convened to discuss the security situation in the country's two western provinces bordering Afghanistan, where militant attacks have sharply risen in recent weeks.
The meeting was called just days after the separatist Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) stormed a passenger train in a remote mountain pass in Balochistan last week, holding hundreds of passengers hostage. The military launched an operation and, after a day-long standoff, rescued 354 captives and killed 33 insurgents.
Militant violence persisted in the province following the incident, with three paramilitary soldiers among five people killed in a suicide blast in Balochistan's Nushki district on Sunday. The escalation in attacks prompted National Assembly Speaker Sardar Ayaz Sadiq to convene the session of the parliamentary panel on Tuesday at Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif's advice.
However, the opposition Tehreek Tahaffuz-i-Ayeen Pakistan— or the Movement for the Protection of the Constitution Pakistan— refused to attend the session in the absence of jailed former Prime Minister Imran Khan. Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party was instrumental in forming the alliance and remains its most influential component.
'The information we are receiving, the whispers and speculations circulating, include talk of kinetic action being planned in a brotherly Islamic country,' PTI Secretary General Salman Akram Raja said at a news conference, referring to Afghanistan. 'We would absolutely not want to be a part of any such move.'
The government has previously stated that anti-Pakistan militants have found sanctuary in Afghanistan and launch cross-border attacks from there, though officials in Kabul deny the allegation.
Raja called for Khan's release on parole ahead of the meeting.
He acknowledged the need for a comprehensive discussion but argued it should involve all stakeholders rather than be limited to a small parliamentary committee meeting behind closed doors.
'Now is the time for dialogue,' he said. 'It is not just a time for bombs and ammunition.'
Earlier, state broadcaster Radio Pakistan reported the in-camera meeting would be held at the Parliament House in Islamabad at 11 AM on Tuesday.
The state-run media said a 'comprehensive briefing' on the country's security situation will be given to committee members by the military leadership, which would include parliamentary leaders from all political parties and members of the federal cabinet.
Oil-and-mineral-rich Balochistan, Pakistan's largest and least populated province, has been plagued by a long-running, low-level insurgency where ethnic Baloch separatists accuse the central government of denying locals of a share in the province's resources. Islamabad and Pakistan's military strongly reject the allegations.
The military has a huge presence in Balochistan and has long run intelligence-based operations against insurgent groups such as the BLA, who have escalated attacks in recent months on the military and nationals from longtime ally China, which is building key projects in the region, including a port at Gwadar.
More than 50 people, including security forces, were killed in August last year in a string of assaults in Balochistan claimed by the BLA.
Pakistan's northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province bordering Afghanistan has also seen a sharp rise in militant attacks since November 2022, when a fragile truce between the state and the Pakistani Taliban or the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) broke down.
The TTP has carried out some of the deadliest attacks against Pakistan's security forces and civilians since 2007 in KP.
Pakistan accuses the Afghan government of sheltering TTP militants, allegations which have strained ties between the two neighbors and prompted strong denials from Kabul.
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