[pIp83Uns]

ISLAMABAD: The joint session of the parliament will resume discussions on foreign policy and Pak-US relations in the light of recommendations drafted by Parliamentary Committee on National Security (PCNS), Geo News reported.

PCNS chairman Raza Rabbani presented recommendations of the committee in the parliament on March 20 for debate, but leader of opposition in the National Assembly Chaudhary Nisar Ali Khan had sought some time to review the document. Later, the session was adjourned till Monday (today).

Chaudhary Nisar will formally initiate debate on the draft recommendations in the session, resumes at 4:00pm.

A meeting of the opposition parties was held on Saturday to chalk out a joint strategy for the joint sitting.

Opposition parties vowed that they would not let the government hijack parliament to rubber stamp its own interests over the wider interests of all stakeholders in the context of the future terms of engagement with the United States.
Speaking to media persons after a meeting held at the residence of JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman at the Ministers’ Enclave, Maulana Fazlur Rehman and Chaudhry Nisar declared, “We will go to the joint sitting with an open mind and with a joint and unanimous stand, but will not allow the government to use parliament as a rubber stamp to serve its interests.”

Both opposition leaders pledged to take a joint stand on the issue of future terms of engagement with the United States at the joint sitting of parliament to take up the recommendations of the Parliamentary Committee on National Security (PCNS).

The meeting was additionally attended by Salim Saifullah Khan of the PML Likeminded, Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao of PPP-Sherpao, Senator Maulana Abdul Ghafoor Haideri, and Senator Talha Mehmood among others.
The leaders of the opposition parties stressed that parliament should take a unanimous decision in the larger interests of the country, instead of the government simply trying to impose its decision on the basis of its majority.

Fazl maintained that if the government tried to impose any decision on the basis of majority, it would be the decision of the government and not parliament.