While Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif was in consultation with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Istanbul to fine-tune his government’s strategy to counter the opposition over the Panama Papers issue and dealing with the country’s powerful military, Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan chaired a high-level meeting at the Prime Minister’s House to review the government’s strategy to deal with the opposition’s likely protest during the PM’s speech in the National Assembly scheduled for Monday.
A well-placed source in the government told Pakistan Today that the meeting was attended by Information Minister Senator Pervaiz Rashid, Law Minister Zahid Hamid and other PML-N members.
“The meeting considered the government’s strategy to handle the situation in the National Assembly during the PM’s speech. The interior minister directed the authorities concerned to ensure tight security in and around the Parliament House. It was also directed that no extraordinary passes are issued on the advice of the opposition members for the visitors’ galleries to ensure a peaceful environment in the House,” the source said.
The source added that the officials of the Parliament House also attended the meeting on special directions of National Assembly Speaker Sardar Ayaz Sadiq.
“It was also decided that passes would be issued to the PML-N workers for visitors’ galleries to ensure a good number of party activists to boost the morale of the treasury members and also for sloganeering during the PM’s speech,” the source added.
The source added that Law Minister Zahid Hamid briefed the meeting on the experts’ opinion over the rejoinder by Supreme Court Chief Justice Anwar Zaheer Jamali. Attorney General for Pakistan Ashtar Ausaf was also present.
“A strategy is being devised by the government to address the points raised by the CJP in his response to the letter written by the premier on the Panama leaks issue,” the source said.
The source said that the information minister briefed the meeting about the government’s media strategy.