COAS Bajwa in senate to brief lawmakers on national security

Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Qamar Javed Bajwa is briefing the Committee of the Whole House in a private meeting, chaired by Chairman Senate Raza Rabbani.

The army chief, Director General Inter-Services Intelligence(ISI) Naveed Mukhtar, Director General of Military Operations (DGMO), Major General Sahir Shamshad Mirza and Director General (ISPR) Major General Asif Ghafoor arrived at the Parliament House amid strict security arrangements. Parliamentary members also arrived at the House.

As he began the briefing, the army chief said that it was his honor to address an important parliamentary committee.

According to local media reports, sources revealed that the Senate was told that military courts had managed to decide 274 cases and had awarded 161 death sentences, since General Bajwa had been appointed as army chief.  They also informed the lawmakers that 56 culprits have already been hanged, out of which 13 culprits were executed by military courts before Operation Radd-ul-Fasaad, and 43 afterwards.

Talking about Operation Radd-ul-Fasaad which was launched this year in February for eliminating the residual/latent threat of terrorism and to ensure the security of Pakistan's borders, DGMO General Mirza said that 1,249 operations have been conducted in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and the Federally Administered Tribal Areas.

After the session, DG ISI Mukhtar will brief the media on today's proceedings.

Today's agenda issued by the Senate Secretariat on Sunday, includes a briefing by the army chief and the Director General Military Operations (DGMO) on the ‘emerging national security paradigm for Pakistan with respect to recent visits and developments.’

This is the first time in six years that the military leadership has come to the Parliament House to brief lawmakers on the security situation. The last time Army Chief General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani and then Chief Lieutenant General Ahmed Shuja Pasha had briefed a joint session of parliament regarding the operation in Abbottabad when Al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden had been killed by US forces in May 2011.