PM Shehbaz summons NSC meeting to deliberate on 'ongoing situation'

ISLAMABAD: As the coalition government locks horns with the Supreme Court over the election verdict, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Thursday summoned a meeting of the National Security Committee (NSC) — the country's top security body comprising civil and military leadership — to discuss the "ongoing situation".

The NSC would meet tomorrow at the PM House during which the country's prevailing situation will be discussed and decisions will be taken regarding the course of action to be taken by the government, Geo News reported citing sources.

According to sources, the meeting will be attended by Chief of Army Staff General Asim Munir, the Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee (CJCSC) and the heads of armed forces, federal ministers for defence, finance and information and senior military leadership.

The meeting is convened as the nation passes through serious economic and political crises compounded by the recent Supreme Court verdict on the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) petition challenging delay in elections in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab.

The ruling coalition has firmly opposed the verdict which it believes is a minority verdict of 3-2 and should not be implemented.

'History never witnessed such horrible scenes'

On Wednesday, PM Shehbaz termed the apex court proceedings horrible and said the National Assembly would pass a resolution rejecting the verdict today.

“What happened in the SC proceedings, the history never witnessed such horrible scenes; it has been decided that the National Assembly will pass a resolution to reject the decision,” Shehbaz had said while addressing a consultative meeting of the senior leadership of government allies.

Those who attended the meeting included JUI-F chief Fazlur Rehman, Dr Farooq Sattar, Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao, Mian Iftikhar Hussain of ANP, top leadership of other coalition partners including PMLN Senior Vice President Maryam Nawaz, Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah Khan and other cabinet members.

The meeting discussed different options to effectively respond to the verdict, while Maryam Nawaz took a stricter stance saying the government should go beyond merely rejecting the decision.

The prime minister noted that the National Assembly had been discussing what game was played with the Constitution and democracy, it had passed a resolution before the verdict and would pass another resolution on Thursday.

He had said the Supreme Court did not talk about the verdict dismissing the petition by a four to three majority, a shakeup of benches and also did not pay heed to requests for the constitution of a full court bench.

He said the political parties also pleaded on different occasions to become party to the case but their requests were also rejected, while a judge who previously regretted being a part of the bench joined the hearing.

He said according to the decision, the government had to make funds available for elections by April 10 and the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) had to apprise the court on April 11 and a final report was to be submitted to the chief election commissioner regarding the security measures by April 17.

“We are also holding discussions on this issue,” he said.