Strategy against terrorism: PM ready to hold talks with opposition: Sana

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif is ready “even now” to invite all the political stakeholders to formulate a collective strategy against terrorism, PM’s Political Advisor Rana Sanaullah has said, in an indication that the government is ready to take the opposition on board in this regard.

“How the nation has to proceed with its support to military operations against terrorism — he (PM) is ready for that,” he said, speaking at the Senate session on Tuesday.

“If you keep other demands aside — the nation needs to join hands and be united against terrorism,” the advisor said.

He accused the dysfunctional Chief Minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Sohail Afridi of opposing the military operations in KP.

“CM KP said this several times that he would not let any military operation take place in KP,” said the PM’s political advisor.

Referring to the opposition, he said, “These friends don’t attend the meetings of apex committees where everything is discussed very openly.”

He said that he asked Leader of the Opposition in Senate Allama Raja Nasir Abbas to meet PM Sharif but the opposition leader refused. “Then I asked him to meet the speaker of the National Assembly. He said he didn’t accept him as the speaker,” the lawmaker said.

Maulana Abdul Wasay from Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam Fazal (JUI-F) slammed the federal government over what he described as its failure to restore peace in Balochistan. “The people of Balochistan are facing a double tragedy; on one hand the terrorists are killing them, on the other hand, the government is crushing them,” he said.

The PM’s political advisor said the Balochistan government is “completely cooperating” with the federal government and the security forces against terrorism.

Falak Naz from Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) said the imposition of emergency and governor’s rule in KP has not scared the PTI. “Neither we fear the emergency, nor the governor’s rule. We are in a state of war for the last four years,” she said.

Meanwhile, the House passed two government bills; the Area Study Centres (Amendment) Bill, 2026 and the Centre for Clinical Psychology Centres (Amendment) Bill, 2026. Both the bills seek to ensure 33 percent women representation in the Area Study Centres and Clinical Psychology Centres, which operate under the ambit of the Ministry of Federal Education and Professional Training, in accordance with the PM’s directives notified by the Cabinet Division to ensure 33 women representation “in all federal boards, statutory bodies, public sector organisations and allied committees under federal government.”

Apart from that, State Interior Minister Tallal Chaudhry informed the Senate that more than 138,000 Computerised National Identity Cards (CNICs) were blocked in Balochistan to “curb illegal registrations.”

Most of these CNICs were previously acquired by Afghan nationals, he said, responding to a calling attention notice moved by Jan Muhammad Buledi from National Party (NP) regarding the blocking of CNICs of the residents of the Rakhshan and Makran divisions of Balochistan. Of the total blocked CNICs, 8,875 CNICs have been blocked in these two divisions, Chaudhry said.

The Senate is adjourned till Friday.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2026