PESHAWAR: The Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) senator Mian Raza Rabbani said that several rounds of talks were held with the banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (PTI) after the declaration of month-long ceasefire in November without taking the parliament into confidence.
Speaking in the Senate, Rabbani said that the conditions behind the ceasefire has to be made public as the country cannot afford such secret agreements anymore. He stated that the National Action Plan (NAP) should be re-debated in Parliament to define future structure of the state.
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The PPP senator informed that despite the ceasefire, various terror groups were reorganising in Afghanistan. He urged the need for proper plan to root out terrorism from the country. “The extremist groups have torn apart the writ of the state but there is no plan to counter it,” the former senate chairman said.
Senator Rabbani stated that after the agreement with the Tehreek-e-Labbaik-Pakistan, it was said that its details will be revealed in ten days. He said that despite the passage of several weeks, the government yet to make the secret agreement public. “Even the parliament is not being taken into confidence on such secrete agreements,” Rabbani said.
Senator Rabbani also raised voice for the families of the missing persons, saying that it is the state responsibility to inform the families about the whereabouts of their loved one.
Raza Rabbani said that according to a newspaper report, Afghan forces have stopped the Pakistan security forces from erecting a fence on the Pak-Afghan border. He asked the Foreign Minister to brief the house on the matter. He said that government is so eager to help the Afghan Taliban who are not even ready to recognise Pakistan’s borders. The former chairman of the senate said that Pakistan’s civil and military bureaucracy will have to answer to the parliament.
The PPP senator said that the state used religion to advance its political agenda.