According to insiders, the meeting which was attended by the party members National Assembly as well as Senators remained indecisive to take a final decision, as a majority of the party's parliamentarians gave their verdict in favour of a military crackdown against militants. But the Prime Minister, it emerged, wanted to take final decision on a crackdown against militants or hold dialogue with them following further consultations with political leadership including opposition parties and intelligence chiefs, as the consultation process with the military leadership has already been completed, the insiders added.
The sources further said that Senator Malik Mohammad Rafique Rajwana and MNA Rai Mansab Ali Khan were among those but less in numbers who suggested that the use of force should be the last option. "We have to save our future generations. Without eliminating terrorism and extremism we cannot place Pakistan on a fast track of development," the Prime Minister was quoted by his office in a press statement following the meeting in which Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan gave a detailed briefing on the efforts government has so far made for resolving the issue through dialogue.
According to sources, the interior minister told the parliamentarians that he had lost trust in Taliban as they were asking for talks on one hand, but continued killing our armed forces personnel and innocent civilians on the other. They said that a decision to hold talks or launch an operation against the Taliban would be taken by the Prime Minister in consultations with other stakeholders and the leadership of political parties. Nisar said the National Internal Security Policy has been devised and will be implemented after Cabinet's approval.
"We will take every step to bring peace and stability in country. Officers and soldiers of the Armed Forces laying down their lives are our heroes and their blood will not go in vain," the Prime Minister told his party's parliamentarians. Referring to the situation in Karachi, the Prime Minister said it has improved and there is a 40 percent decrease in heinous crimes. "We have to rebuild the image of Pakistan as a peace loving country," he said, adding that "this can be achieved only through hard work and needs combined efforts of all stakeholders including parliamentarians, civil society, executive, judiciary and defence forces."
Nawaz stated that the country is facing two major problems - fragile economy and terrorism. On economic front, he said the government has taken a firm action which is proving to be fruitful, adding that economic indicators, despite law and order situation, are positive. He said that a corruption-free society and a transparent system constitute our road towards progress.
Deliberating upon the energy situation, he said that though the problem has not been fully resolved, the power availability is better this year as compared to last year. This has been due to the payment of circular debt, addition of 1700 megawatt to the system and better management of the distribution network. He said that "we have more projects in pipeline and hopefully by end of our tenure we will add another 8000 megawatt to the national grid. But we have to look for surplus power generation keeping in view our future needs."
He said that 36,000 mega watts will be added to the system, by completion of K-2, K-3 civil nuclear power project, Diamer-Bhasha dam, Gadani coal based power project, Nandipur Power project, Jamshoro power project, CASA 1000 and wind power projects, over the next 10-12 years, he added.
Referring to the infrastructure policy of the government, he said that the Japanese government has agreed to invest Rs 2 billion in Karachi Circular Railway; construction of Lahore-Multan-Karachi Motorway is being planned while work on Economic Trade Corridor, connecting Kashgar in China with Khunjerab and Gawadar in Pakistan has commenced. About relations with neighbours, he said we are a peaceful nation and believe in peaceful relations based on respect with all our neighbours including India. We need to begin a new era of peace and stability in the region, which will be beneficial for Pakistan as well as the whole region, he added.
Earlier, Federal Minister for Finance Ishaq Dar and Federal Minister for Interior Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan briefed the meeting on the economic and security policies of the government. Dar told the meeting that the positive government policies have increased the chances of access to international capital market and all International financial institutions are engaged with Pakistan.