Pakistan

COAS meets PM Khan to discuss security matters ahead of Pompeo visit

Chief of the Army Staff General Qamar Javed Bajwa called on Prime Minister Imran Khan at the PM Office where ‘matters related to security were discussed, according to a statement by the PM office.

The third meeting since Imran assumed the prime ministerial office on August 18, comes ahead of US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and the US Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen Joseph Dunford’s scheduled visit to Islamabad on Wednesday to meet their counterparts.
They are also scheduled to meet Prime Minister Khan.
In their talks with Pakistani officials, the delegation will “make very clear what we have to do, all of our nations, in meeting our common foe, the terrorists”, US Defence Secretary James Mattis had said last week. “And make that a primary part of the discussion.”
Busy week
Last Monday, the army chief during his maiden call on PM Khan had congratulated the latter on assuming the prime minister’s office.
Both had “expressed resolve to bring enduring peace and stability in the country while also continuing efforts for regional peace”, the Prime Minister Office had said in a statement.
A source had claimed that Gen Bajwa also briefed the prime minister about his meeting with Saudi Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman at Mina.
Then on Friday, PM Khan made his first visit to the General Headquarters for a briefing on matters pertaining to national security.
“COAS thanked PM for his visit and posing confidence in the army,” the Inter-Services Public Relations had said in a statement.
The prime minister was accompanied during his visit to the military headquarters by Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi, Defence Minister Pervez Khattak, Finance Minister Asad Umar, Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry and Minister of State on Interior Shehryar Afridi.
The briefing — which reportedly went on for more than seven hours — covered security environment, threat spectrum and response, counterterrorism operations, the situation in Karachi and the Khushal Balochistan programme.
Former prime minister Nawaz Sharif in his last tenure got his security briefing five months after assuming office, whereas ex-PM Shahid Khaqan Abbasi only got a chance to visit the Joint Staff Headquarters after eight months in office.

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