Army has no objection if government talks to Taliban: parliamentarians get briefing at GHQ

Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani has said Pakistan Army has no objection if the government initiates a dialogue with Taliban leaders to secure peace in the region, it is learnt Kayani, who was giving briefing to the defence committees of Senate and National Assembly regarding national security on Tuesday also told the MPs that the army had no intention of sending troops to North Waziristan without the consent of the incumbent government.
The sources said that General Kayani told the briefing meeting that he had informed the US that Pakistan did not require military aid of any kind and that there would be no compromise on national sovereignty. They said the army chief also mentioned that the defence budget had been adversely impacted every year due to sky-rocketing inflation in the country. Moreover, the army had received only $0.2 billion instead of pledged $6 billion from the US.
Kayani further said the police and civil administration were responsible for internal security of the country. "Army is not the solution to every problem," a source quoted him as saying during the briefing. The parliamentarians belonging to Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) and Senator Raza Rabbani, a senior member of ruling Pakistan People's Party (PPP), however did not attend the briefing, arguing that the briefing should have been held in Parliament House instead of General Headquarters (GHQ).
"We'd already made it clear that we would not go anywhere else to get a briefing because the parliament is supreme and it [briefing] should have been held here instead of the GHQ", said Professor Khurshid. The parliamentarians of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) also did not go to GHQ as PML-N leader Chaudhary Nisar Ali Khan who is also opposition leader in National Assembly, had already asked members of his party that they should not attend the briefing at GHQ.
A statement issued by Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said that security briefing to Senate and National Assembly standing committees on defence and defence production was held at Army Auditorium, in Rawalpindi. "COAS General Kayani welcomed the parliamentarians and after a formal briefing by Director-General Military Operations, an interactive session of questions and answers followed...the focus remained on ongoing military operations," says the statement. According to the statement, General Kayani also shared various matters related to defence budget. The members of Senate and National Assembly standing committees on defence and defence production thanked the COAS on hosting a comprehensive briefing session.