ISLAMABAD: The Pakistani government will hold an in-camera meeting of the parliamentary committee on national security today despite the opposition’s boycott, local media reported on Monday, with the information minister saying this is the first time in seven decades that a government would present its national security policy before parliament.
The joint opposition had last week announced that it would boycott the meeting convened by National Assembly Speaker Asad Qaiser on Monday for a presentation by Pakistan’s National Security Adviser (NSA) Dr. Moeed Yusuf on the national security policy, the Dawn newspaper reported.
“The speaker has invited more than 50 members, including Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Shehbaz Sharif and Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, and senior officials of the ministries concerned to attend the meeting on one-point agenda — presentation on national security policy,” the report read.
The decision regarding the opposition’s boycott was announced by Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) information secretary Marriyum Aurangzeb in a statement.
She said the decision to boycott the in-camera meeting was made because of the government’s attitude of bulldozing important draft bills in the recently held joint sitting of parliament and its “persistent authoritarian approach” on important constitutional, legal, national and security issues.
When contacted, Information Minister Chaudhry Fawad Hussain regretted the opposition’s decision to boycott the national security committee’s meeting, requesting it to review it, according to the report.
He said for the first time in the past seven decades, a government was presenting its national security policy before parliament. He was of the view that the opposition should not do politics on an issue related to the country’s national security.
In response to a question, the minister said the NSA would present the national security policy with regard to external affairs and keeping in view the prevailing regional situation. This policy would then be presented before the federal cabinet for approval, he added.
Pakistani government to hold parliamentary meeting on national security today despite opposition’s boycott
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Pakistani government to hold parliamentary meeting on national security today despite opposition’s boycott
- The joint opposition last week announced that it would boycott the meeting
- Minister says government presenting policy before parliament first time in decades
Rating firm S&P says it won’t rush Iran war downgrades, sees risks for countries like Pakistan
- Agency says it is monitoring indebted energy importers as higher oil prices strain finances
- Gulf economies seen better placed to weather shock, though Bahrain flagged as vulnerable
LONDON: S&P Global said it would not make any knee-jerk sovereign rating cuts following the outbreak of war in the Middle East, but warned on Thursday that soaring oil and gas prices were putting a number of already cash-strapped countries at risk.
The firm’s top analysts said in a webinar that the conflict, which has involved US and Israeli strikes against Iran and Iranian strikes against Israel, US bases and Gulf states, was now moving from a low- to moderate-risk scenario.
Most Gulf countries had enough fiscal buffers, however, to weather the crisis for a while, with more lowly rated Bahrain the only clear exception.
Qatar’s banking sector could also struggle if there were significant deposit outflows in reaction to the conflict, although there was no evidence of such strains at the moment, they said.
“We don’t want to jump the gun and just say things are bad,” S&P’s head global sovereign analyst, Roberto Sifon-Arevalo, said.
The longer the crisis was prolonged, though, “the more difficult it is going to be,” he added.
Sifon-Arevalo said Asia was the second-most exposed region, due to many of its countries being significant Gulf oil and gas importers.
India, Thailand and Indonesia have relatively lower reserves of oil, while the region also had already heavily indebted countries such as Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka whose finances would be further hurt by rising energy prices.
“We are closely monitoring these (countries) to see how the credit stories evolve,” Sifon-Arevalo said.
