Joint meeting of two NA panels put off in protest: Sartaj, Aizaz not present to brief MPs on Yadav

A joint meeting of the two parliamentary panels got postponed in protest Monday over the absence of Adviser to the Prime Minister on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz and Foreign Secretary Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhry to brief the parliamentarians on the arrested Indian spy Kulbhushan Yadav. The Adviser and the Foreign Secretary were scheduled to give an in-camera briefing to the joint meeting of the National Assembly Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and Standing Committee on Defence on the arrest of the Indian spy but they failed to attend the meeting because of other engagements.
The committee members, who expressed displeasure over the absence of the Adviser and the Foreign Secretary, refused to take briefing from an additional secretary of the Foreign Office and recommended to the chair to postpone the meeting in protest. Sardar Awais Ahmad Khan Leghari, Chairman of the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, however, postponed the meeting after taking input from the members and instructed the Foreign Office to organize the briefing when the Adviser or the Foreign Secretary is available.
Earlier, the Foreign Office officials told the meeting that Sartaj Aziz, also heading a parliamentary committee on political reforms in FATA, was visiting South Waziristan along with committee members to take input from the tribesmen on the proposed reforms while Foreign Secretary who will visit India on Tuesday (today) to participate in the Heart of Asia Conference in New Delhi, was called in by the Prime Minister for consultation.