Parliamentary leaders to meet on military courts today

Islamabad: Parliamentary leaders in the Senate and National Assembly are to meet on Monday to come to a consensus about military courts.

In a statement on Sunday, Minister for Finance Senator Mohammad Ishaq Dar said the government, on March 10, tabled National Assembly Bills for Constitutional and Army Act Amendments relating to the subject.

Dar said drafts of the bills had been agreed upon on February 28 in a meeting, chaired by Speaker National Assembly and attended by Parliamentary leaders of all the parties in Senate and National Assembly.

However, some amendments to the proposed bills have subsequently been suggested by some parties.

In order to discuss these proposals and to come to an agreement that all parties can agree on, the Speaker has convened, on the request of the government, a meeting of all the Parliamentary party leaders in Senate and National Assembly on Monday (March 13).

The Finance Minister said under the current circumstances, the nation is looking for a united, coherent and resolute response by the political parties to effectively tackle the menace of terrorism.

He said that in the past few years, political parties have developed a culture of ‘consensus through dialogue’ on issues of national importance.

All the political parties have demonstrated that they can rise above party politics for a national cause, he added.

Dar hoped at the meeting, political parties would, once again, demonstrate unity and resolve to effectively deal with the challenge of terrorism.