Opposition demands joint parliamentary session for responding to India's aggression

Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) leader Khursheed Shah demanded a joint parliamentary session on Tuesday

ISLAMABAD (Dunya News) – The opposition leaders on Tuesday demanded a joint parliamentary session in response to India’s violation of the Line of Control (LoC).

During the National Assembly (NA) session on Tuesday, Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) senior leader Khursheed Shah demanded that a joint parliamentary session to be summoned.

"We are in a state of war and the parliament should sit together and decide," Shah said, adding India wanted to exploit Pakistan’s internal differences and attack.

"We need to demonstrate our unity,” he went on to say.

He recalled Prime Minister Imran Khan’s address to the nation last week, and said, "We will not think about responding to India’s aggression and we should not even think."

"The opposition is ready to stand on the border and Pakistanis are ready to sacrifice their lives," he asserted while urging the government to take India’s intrusion seriously and consider it as a warning.

Meanwhile, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader and former defence minister Khawaja Asif endorsed Shah’s demand for convening the joint session and said that the session should be convened today.

Asif also opposed India’s inclusion in the emergency meeting of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) Contact Group on Kashmir which is scheduled to be held in Jeddah today.

The PML-N leader also urged all political parties to get united and to express solidarity with the armed forces.

"Our country, our sovereignty and our integrity are being threatened," Asif said.

"It is not the time for political point-scoring," he added, adding "we are standing behind our armed forces like an iron wall."

Former NA speaker and PML-N leader Ayaz Sadiq asked the government to impose ban on all imports from India Besides Asif and Sadiq, PPP leader and former foreign minister Hina Rabbani Khar strongly criticized the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) for inviting Swaraj as the "guest of honour".

"We have to demonstrate to the world that the entire nation is united for its defence and politicians could stand together,” she said.

While agreeing with the opposition’s demand for a joint parliament session, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader and former speaker Syed Fakhar Imam Shah asserted that India has challenged the territorial sovereignty and integrity of Pakistan and Pakistan needed to decide whether to live with honour or otherwise.

“Now the time has come for Pakistan’s survival. This is not someone else’s war. This is Pakistan’s war,” he said.