The National Security Council (NSC) will meet here on Thursday, as the government rejects the demand of the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal (MMA) for postponement. The meeting of the NSC cannot be postponed, government's chief spokesman and Information Minister Sheikh Rashid said, adding, "For discussing the MMA's reservations NSC is the best forum."
To be chaired by President General Pervez Musharraf the NSC will review all major national issues, including the ongoing military operation in South Waziristan and volatile situation in Balochistan. NWFP Governor Lieutenant General Syed Iftikhar Hussain Shah (Retd) and Senator Mushahid Hussain have been extended special invitations to brief the members on these two subjects, it was learnt.
The NWFP governor is in-charge of the tribal areas where army is fighting against the militants and terrorists. Mushahid was recently in Balochistan where he met with a number of prominent leaders.
The NSC will also hear reports from Interior Minister Aftab Ahmad Khan Sherpao and Foreign Minister Khurshid Mehmood Kasuri, who too would attend the meeting on special invitation.
Meanwhile, the MMA has decided not to attend the NSC meeting, saying that the entity should meet after removal of its reservations, which it did not spell, but definitely includes the bill adopted by the Parliament, which allows President Musharraf to continue as army chief beyond December 31.
Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz and President's special aide Tariq Aziz, who is secretary of the NSC, held meetings with the MMA leaders to persuade them to come to the NSC meeting but their pleadings were ignored.
The absence of the MMA leaders from the council's second meeting would be taken by the establishment as an act of defiance, especially in the light of the "serious notice" the president took of the non-participation of the MMA representatives in its first meeting.
By virtue of his position as Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Maulana Fazlur Rehman and NWFP Chief Minister Akram Khan Durrani are the members of the NSC. Although the council is only a consultative body and can meet even if some members are not present, the refusal of the MMA to be part of its proceedings symbolises the opposition's rejection of the all that President Musharraf and his system stands for.
The MMA's refusal to attend the NSC meeting on Thursday tends to gladden the hearts of other segments of the opposition, particularly the Alliance for the Restoration of Democracy (ARD), who were profoundly concerned about the MMA's role in the anti-government campaign.
The NSC was set up through an act of Parliament, as a kind of addendum to the 17th Constitutional Amendment. While the MMA helped in passing the amendment it did not support the government in the passage of the act, prompting the president to say that he would be justified in backing out from the dual-office commitment because the MMA did the same on the NSC bill.