ISLAMABAD: The Parliamentary Committee on National Security (PCNS) claimed on Tuesday to have prepared a preliminary draft of revised recommendations on terms of engagement with the US, but said the report would be finalised only after its members would get it approved by leaders of their parties.

Sources told Dawn that the 13-member PCNS, which met under its chairman Senator Raza Rabbani had agreed to include the proposals put forward by the PML-N and the PML-Q to link the resumption of Nato supplies with cessation of drone attacks and the condition that no arms and ammunition would be transported to Afghanistan through Pakistani soil.

JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman continued his boycott of the committee.

The sources said that the committee also agreed to drop its earlier recommendations about allowing operations of foreign secret agencies and foreign troops in Pakistan and handing over air bases to a foreign country with the approval of parliament.

Senator Rabbani had submitted 16-point recommendations on new terms of engagements with the US with special focus on resumption of Nato supplies in a joint sitting of the National Assembly and Senate on March 20.

However, the opposition parties changed their stance and rejected the report despite the fact that it had been prepared with the consent of their nominees who had also signed it.

Later, a meeting of the top civilian and military leadership held on March 29, decided that the committee should redraft its recommendations.

The PCNS chairman had to face a daunting task to come up again with a consensus report because of the changed positions of the opposition parties on the issue of resumption of Nato supplies and the boycott of the PML-N and JUI-F.

The PML-N finally returned to the committee after a telephonic contact between Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani and Mian Nawaz Sharif.

But despite repeated attempts by the government, Maulana Fazl refused to end his boycott and said his party would not support resumption of Nato supplies at any cost, thus leaving no option for the PCNS to prepare the new draft without JUI-F’sparticipation.

The PCNS will again meet on Thursday to give final touches to the draft and to table it in the parliament’s joint sitting.

Sources in the JUI-F said the party would not accept the new recommendations.

“We have nothing to do with the new draft, we will continue our boycott,” said a senior party official.

Sardar Mehtab Ahmed Khan of the PML-N, who had been attending the meetings in the absence of Senator Ishaq Dar, said he would consult the leadership on revised recommendations, adding that he had forwarded to the committee a suggestion on behalf of the party to seek assurance from the US that it would review its policy on drone strikes.

Senator Rabbani said a copy of the draft had been handed over to each member of the committee to discuss it with their leaders and come back with their proposals.

He said an effort had been made to accommodate the viewpoint of every political party. However, any reservation expressed by a party could still be addressed to evolve a consensus.

Mr Rabbani, however, refused to give a timeline for completion and submission of the final draft in parliament. He said that he had wished that Maulana Fazl returned to join the committee proceedings despite his differences to remain part of the parliamentary process.

He also refused to divulge on details or any part of the redrafted recommendations to the media.