LAHORE: Former prime minister Nawaz Sharif presided over a PML-N meeting on the Afghanistan situation on Tuesday and decided in principle that the party will not give a formal response till the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) government comes up with a clear-cut policy and briefs parliament on the matter.

The video-link meeting was held on Monday and attended by all main leaders of the party, including Shehbaz Sharif and Maryam Nawaz. The PML-N supreme leader presided over the meeting from London.

“There was a complete consensus among the party leaders that the PML-N should not give its response to this serious matter till the Imran Khan government comes up with a clear-cut policy on it,” a senior party leader who attended the meeting told Dawn on Tuesday.

He said since the PML-N was a major opposition party and expected to take a position on what was happening in Afghanistan, it was being very careful in this respect.

“The onus is on the Imran Khan government to tell the nation what the policy on the matter is,” he said, adding that the meeting criticised the PTI government for its “immature” approach to various foreign policy matters.

The party chose not to make the meeting public. “It was an internal meeting of the party in which Nawaz Sharif wanted to listen to the other leaders’ viewpoint. So the party may not come up with a formal reaction to the Afghan situation at any point because of its own political compulsions,” said another leader. “The PML-N’s position will remain unclear as the party will try to be diplomatic.”

On the other hand, the other mainstream political party — PPP — had held its Central Executive Committee (CEC) meeting on Monday and come up with its formal reaction to the situation.

The PPP expressed concern over the developing situation in the neighbouring country and its implications for women, men and youth, religious and ethnic minorities of the country.

The party reiterated its support for a democratic, inclusive, pluralistic Afghanistan where all citizens of the country were free to realise their full potential in society.

The Punjab PML-N’s spokesperson Azma Bokhari said the party wanted the government to immediately call a parliament session on this grave issue to take the opposition into confidence.

When asked why the PML-N has not yet issued any policy statement on the situation, Ms Bokhari said: “We want the government to first take the matter to parliament.”

Published in Dawn, August 18th, 2021