Pakistani Special Services Group (SSG) commandos climb down from a military helicopter during an assault drill to celebrate the Defence Day, in Rawalpindi 06 September 2006. Pakistan's armed forces The Navy, Air Force and Army staged a display of their might as they celebrated Defence Day, a commemorative day of the war fought against neighbor India in 1965. AFP PHOTO/Aamir QURESHI (Photo by AAMIR QURESHI / AFP)

ISLAMABAD: National Assembly Speaker Asad Qaiser has summoned a session of the Parliamentary Committee on National Security on July 1 to discuss the situation in Afghanistan and Kashmir in an in-camera session at Parliament House.

The meeting will be attended by Senate Chairperson Sadiq Sanjrani, Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi, Finance Minister Shaukat Tarin, Interior Minister Sheikh Rasheed, Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry from the government side. National Assembly Opposition Leader Shehbaz Sharif, Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Chairperson Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari Opposition Leader in Senate Yousaf Raza Gillani, and other senior leaders will represent the opposition.

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Army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa and Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) Director General Faiz Hamid will likely attend the moot as well.

During the meeting, PM’s aide on National Security Moeed Yousaf and federal secretaries will brief the parliamentarians on a number of issues relating to national security. The meeting will also discuss the US request for military bases in Pakistan.

As it prepares to pull out from Afghanistan, the US has asked Pakistan to allow the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to conduct cross-border counter-terrorism missions against al Qaeda, Islamic State, and the Taliban from its soil.

However, Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan and its Foreign Office have repeatedly made it public that Islamabad will not hand over its bases to the US forces for security operations in Afghanistan.

Anas Mallick is an international journalist who has been working as a field reporter for 7+ years now. With a focus on diplomacy, militancy, and conflict, Mallick's expertise involve Pakistan, India, and Afghanistan. He tweets at @AnasMallick

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