LAHORE: If the objective of the briefing to the parliamentary leadership was to forge national unity against foreign-backed insurgency in Balochistan and TTP-led militancy in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf vice-chairman Shah Mahmood Qureshi says “the opportunity is lost due to the absence of PTI and other important political parties sitting on the opposition benches.”

Incarcerated former foreign minister Mr Qureshi in a five-page hand-written letter, received on Thursday, stated that the PTI had indicated its intention to participate in the Parliamentary Committee on National Security (PCNS) huddle and finalised a list of its participants.

“A meeting with the jailed leader and his input through the PTI delegation would have made the sitting more meaningful and sent a clear message to forces inside and outside Pakistan that on matters of national security, we are all on the same page,” he stated and bemoaned that inflexibility shown by the government defeated the objective behind the entire exercise.

Mr Qureshi said the presence of PTI in the PCNS meeting was important for a number of reasons including being the largest party sitting on the opposition benches.

Explaining other reasons for the PTI presence, Mr Qureshi said the party had the mandate of the people of KP with over two-third majority in the provincial assembly. He said the PTI was in charge of governance in KP, which shared a long border with Afghanistan, where TTP sanctuaries were located.

Qureshi stated that Maulana Fazlur Rehman and JUI-F had distanced themselves from the joint statement read by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and were of the view that the statement was not shared with them in advance.

He said the ANP had opposed a fresh military operation and demanded a truth and reconciliation communion. He said Mahmood Khan Achakzai and Sardar Akhtar Mengal were elected MNAs from Balochistan and their presence in the meeting would have made great optics.

Keeping in view the challenging situation in Kurram, he said, MWM’s elected senator Raja Nasir Abbas’s presence would have sent a very positive signal.

He said former Senate chairman Raza Rabbani, an important leader of PPP, had demanded a prominent role for the Senate as a symbol of the federation.

The former foreign minister asserted that the economic fallout of resurgence in terrorism should not be underestimated. He said the progress towards a staff-level agreement and release of the next tranche of $1 billion by the IMF would become meaningless if the country would account for the unforeseen expenditure required for defeating insurgency in Balochistan and terrorism in KP.

“Deterioration of bilateral relations with Afghanistan and a recent podcast by PM Narendra Modi with Mr Lex Fridman can give rise to a two-front situation, which Pakistan cannot afford and must avoid,” the PTI leader stressed.

“Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari is talking of National Action Plan 2.0 without reflecting over why NAP of 2014, revised in 2021 and its 14 critical points incorporated in Azm-i-Istehkam is not being implemented,” he asked and added that irresponsible statements by some government ministers were a serious impediment in the evolution of a national consensus against terrorism.

“Sitting in Kot Lakhpat jail for a crime not committed, cut-off from the PTI leadership, I can only pray for my country and may Allah protect every soldier and every citizen of Pakistan”.

Mr Qureshi said the seriousness of the challenge could be judged from 71,429 intelligence-based operations conducted in 2024 and over two months in 2025. Hundreds of innocent lives had been lost and 1,250 terrorists killed.

Published in Dawn, March 21st, 2025