ISLAMABAD: Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan called on Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Saturday, his second meeting with the PM in as many days.

Sources in the interior ministry said the minister discussed key matters of national security and the prevailing political situation with the prime minister.

They said the minister had also met the PM on Friday to brief him on the incident of unprovoked firing by Afghan border security forces on Pakistani citizens near the Chaman border, which claimed 12 lives.

There was no official word regarding the two meetings and neither the Prime Minister’s Office, nor the interior ministry issued any statements.

PM Office says Secretary Fawad Hasan Fawad hasn’t applied for leave

Private TV channels reported the interior minister had discussed the draft of a notification, to be issued by the ministry in line with the recommendations of the inquiry committee set up to investigate the publication of a report in Dawn in October last year regarding a high-level security meeting.

The prime minister had asked Chaudhry Nisar to issue a notification on the findings of the inquiry committee so that the concerns of different stakeholders, notably the armed forces, could be addressed.

On April 29, when the PM’s Office released a notification detailing actions to be taken in the wake of the report, ISPR chief Maj Gen Asif Ghafoor tweeted that the military “rejected” the notification since it was not in line with the recommendations of the inquiry committee.

Political experts attach great significance to Saturday’s meeting, which came within 48 hours of the prime minister’s interaction with Chief of the Army Staff (COAS) Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa.

On Friday night, nearly every news channel reported that a meeting between the army chief and the prime minister was held on Thursday night in a “pleasant atmosphere” and issues relating to the Dawn report, border tensions and the security situation came under discussion.

Neither the Prime Minister’s Office nor the ISPR chief issued any statements or tweets to confirm or deny the meeting.

Meanwhile, a statement issued by the PM Office termed the news regarding the leave application of Secretary to PM Fawad Hasan Fawad “baseless”. It said he had not applied for leave.

Published in Dawn, May 7th, 2017