In an extraordinary step in Pakistan, the military gave a classified briefing to a special session of parliament on Wednesday about its efforts in combating militancy and terrorism.
Afterward, many members of parliament were disappointed, saying the briefing offered no new information and was focused too narrowly on military operations rather than the broad strategic issues facing the country.
But the briefing was the first time that a top military general had formally offered any information to parliament about the threats posed by the Taliban and al-Qaeda or the military’s campaign against the militants in the restive tribal regions straddling the border with Afghanistan.
Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari called the special session. Zardari, like his predecessor Pervez Musharraf, has defended Pakistan’s alliance with the US, which has grown increasingly unpopular.
The briefing was the beginning of an effort by the president to win support from the public and elected officials, who were previously marginalized in the decision making, for an intensifying fight against the Taliban and al-Qaeda, which Zardari has called Pakistan’s “own war.”
It was also part of a tentative rebalancing of powers between the new civilian government elected in February and the military, which ran the government for much of the last eight years and for more than half of Pakistan’s 61 years of independence.
The army chief, General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, attended the session. Governors and chief ministers of the country’s four provinces were also present. The leader of the opposition, Nawaz Sharif, who is not a member of parliament, also attended the unprecedented session on a special invitation.
The governing party members hailed the briefing as “historic,” while some analysts saw it as a first step in evolving a national strategy against terrorism that includes the military as well as the political parties.
“It has a substantive and symbolic value,” Talat Masood, a retired general and political analyst, said, referring to the briefing. “The military very much wants the support of the politicians. It is vital.”
The two-hour briefing was conducted by the director general of military operations, Lieutenant General Ahmed Shuja Pasha, who is the designated head of Inter-Services Intelligence, the country’s powerful spy organization, members of parliament who attended the session said.
The lawmakers spoke on condition of anonymity because they were made to take an oath of secrecy not to divulge what was disclosed. The media were not invited to attend the session.
As the director general of military operations, Pasha has taken on responsibility for the conduct of the continuing military campaign in Bajaur, part of the tribal areas, and in Swat, in North-West Frontier Province, which borders the tribal areas.
He blamed “foreign elements” — a euphemism for Afghanistan and Indian — for aggravating the situation in the tribal areas and in other parts of the North-West Frontier Province.
Opposition lawmakers and even some from the governing party said they found the briefing lacking. Ahsan Iqbal, a member of opposition political party Pakistan Muslim League-N, said his party was hugely disappointed with the briefing.
Meanwhile, a car bomb wounded at least eight people yesterday at police headquarters in Islamabad, a senior police official said.
Interior Secretary Kamal Shah said a handful of people had been wounded, but there were no deaths reported so far.
The latest attack struck a target in a high security zone, though security in the city has been increased in the wake of a suicide truck bomb that killed 55 people and destroyed the Marriott hotel on Sept. 20.
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