اردو
  • PM directs party MNAs to ensure presence during budget passing

    Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi File photo Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi

    Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi chaired a parliamentary party meeting of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) today.

    Sources said the PM took PML-N lawmakers into confidence over the developments after former prime minister Nawaz Sharif’s statement on the Mumbai attacks, which was played up the Indian media stirring a controversy in the country.

    Moreover, the PM also issued party guidelines during the meeting to ensure the presence of PML-N MNAs when the budget will be tabled in the assembly.

    During the assembly session on Friday, the finance minister could not make his budget speech as the session was adjourned due to the low number of lawmakers.

    Sources also said the PM took party members into confidence over the government's plan to table a constitutional amendment to merge the Federally Administered Tribal Areas with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.

    Earlier in the day, the PM hosted a breakfast for the members of the National Assembly, which was boycotted by leaders of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf and Pakistan Peoples Party.

    Former interior minister Chaudhry Nisar and Awami Muslim League chief Sheikh Rasheed also skipped the breakfast.

    However, members from Pashtunkhwa Milli Awami Party, Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan and Jamiat Ulema-e Islam (F) attended the event.

    The present government's tenure is expected to end on May 31 while the National Assembly, currently in sessions, will end its last session in the coming days.

    'Nawaz’s statement was misinterpreted'

    On Monday, Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi said that former premier Nawaz Sharif clarified that his recent statement regarding the Mumbai attacks was misinterpreted and misreported by the media.

    According to Abbasi, who spoke with senior journalists after the National Security Committee (NSC) meeting, Nawaz said that his interview with Dawn Newspaper was misreported and he did not say all that was attributed to him.

    Abbasi also apprised the journalists of the NSC meeting as well as his follow-up meeting with Nawaz today.

    The prime minister said Nawaz asserted that he did not say what was reported about the Mumbai attacks.

    With regards to the NSC meeting which condemned Nawaz's statement, Abbasi clarified that the top civil-military huddle dismissed those words which were misreported.