The PPP will be announcing its decision on the issue of extension to military courts after consultation with party’s legal team, Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said after the PPP-sponsored ‘all-parties’ huddle could not reach a consensus over the issue on Saturday.
Bilawal, while talking to media after the conference, said that no consensus was reached on the extension to be granted to military courts and that a final decision would be taken after consultation with legal experts. He however did not specify a timeframe in which the parties may come to a joint conclusion.
According to sources, apart from military courts, the meeting took up the merger of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) into Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) and implementation of the National Action Plan (NAP). The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) did not attend the moot, while the ruling PML-N was not invited.
Sheikh Rasheed Ahmed of the Awami Muslim League (AML), Aftab Ahmed Sherpao of the Qaumi Watan Party (QWP), Maulana Fazlur Rehman of the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F), and other heads of political parties attended the meeting.
According to a private media outlet, Asif Ali Zardari, the co-chairman of PPP, said that the purpose of calling the conference was to develop a consensus on the matter.
He said that he wanted a collective decision from the parties in attendance when the issue was brought to the floor in Parliament.
“If any party has a different stance, they can decide on their next move too,” he said.
Maulana Fazlur Rehman insisted that a clear definition of the word ‘terrorism’ should be given before a decision can be made on the military courts.
Addressing the conference, he emphasised that instead of targeting one religion or sect, every armed group should be dealt with accordingly and that anyone who picks up arms against the state should be termed a terrorist.
Talking about the integration of Fata into KP, he said that it was necessary to ask the people of Fata about their wishes and asked the government to not impose any decision on them.
Military courts had been disbanded this year on Jan 7. No consensus was reached between the government and the opposition on an extension in their tenure despite frequent meetings on the issue. On February 28, however, the majority of the political parties in power consented to an extension for another two years. The PPP had not attended the meeting in which the decision was taken.