Terms of engagement with US: PCNS recommendations to face delay

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RECORDER REPORT

ISLAMABAD: The Parliamentary Committee on National Security’s recommendations regarding new terms of engagement with the United States will face further delay with regard to Parliament approval as the joint sitting of the two houses is unlikely to be convened this month, it is learnt.

The PCNS tasked to frame proposals regarding Islamabad’s new terms of engagement and future cooperation with Washington and its allies, has completed the process and sent the same to the Speaker’s office on February 14.

Following last November 26 Nato air strike on Salala border post, the government had tasked the parliamentary panel to completely review Pakistan’s engagement with the US.

The government was expected to convene the joint sitting of the Parliament in the first week of this month but sources within the National Assembly Secretariat said the joint session could not be summoned mainly because of the 20th Constitutional Amendment and the government’s focus on the Supreme Court’s contempt case proceedings against Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani.

The 20th Constitutional Amendment Bill has now been passed by the National Assembly and is currently pending Senate approval while sources said the government wanted to pass the bill as soon as possible so that the joint sitting of the two houses could be convened.

The sources further said that they have no schedule of the joint sitting for February but an official of the National Assembly Secretariat said that the session could be convened any time soon as the Presidential address to the current parliamentary year of President Asif Ali Zardari was also pending.

The sources were not sure whether the joint sitting of the parliament would first be summoned for the presidential address or passing the recommendations of the parliamentary panel on national security.

Originally, the government had planned to table the proposals in the Parliament for debate on February 2, but sources said it could not be brought for discussion as the parliamentary panel had not finalized the recommendations at that time.