ISLAMABAD: Army chief Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani and Director General of Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) Lt-Gen Ahmad Shuja Pasha will brief three parliamentary committees on the security situation on Thursday.

According to sources, letters had been sent to the General Headquarters and ISI by the committees seeking a briefing on the security situation, relations with the US and challenges facing the country and it has been decided that the committees would be briefed jointly.

The members of the Parliamentary Committee on National Security led by Senator Raza Rabbani, Senate Standing Committee on Defence headed by Lt-Gen (retd) Javed Ashraf Qazi and Senate Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs headed by Salim Saifullah Khan will be asked to attend the briefing to be held at the GHQ.

The sources, however, said the Committee on National Security was yet to decide whether to attend the briefing. The committee will meet in camera on Tuesday to discuss Pakistan-US relations and decide about the briefing.

“They perhaps wanted a separate briefing, but most probably they will eventually decide not to miss this opportunity,” the sources said.

Members of the Senate Committee on Defence had recently visited the headquarters of the three military services.

“Although the temperature in Washington appears to have cooled down after various high-level meetings between Pakistani and US authorities and the United States has expressed the desire to continue working with the country, we will like to know what the situation actually is,” a member of a committee said.

He said the situation on the country's western border was alarming with Afghan President Hamid Karzai changing his tone and not only accusing Pakistan of harbouring terrorists but also holding it responsible for the assassination of former president Burhanuddin Rabbani.