The Pakistan government announced on February 6 that a meeting of all political parties to discuss the issue of terrorism and evolve a joint strategy to combat it would be held on Thursday, two days later than the scheduled date.
The announcement comes a week after a suicide bomber killed 101 people at a mosque in the northwestern city of Peshawar, drawing nationwide condemnation and prompting Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif to convene a meeting of opposition politicians and his allies to discuss how to combat the surge in violence.
The government last week decided to call the All Parties Conference (APC) in Islamabad on February 7.
Information Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb took to social media to announce that the meeting had been rescheduled, apparently after criticism from ex-Prime Minister Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf party and its threat to boycott it.
“The APC called by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on the issue of terrorism will be held on Feb 9 (Thursday) instead of Feb 7,” she tweeted.
Ms. Aurangzeb also said that a joint strategy to combat terrorism and other challenges faced by the government will be discussed in the meeting.
She said that the National Action Plan (NAP) will also be reviewed. The plan was thrashed out after the Peshawar school attack of 2014.
In 2014, the Pakistani Taliban stormed the Army Public School (APS) in the northwestern city of Peshawar, killing at least 150 people, including 131 students.
The Minister added that the entire political and national leadership of the country has been invited to the meeting.
The change in the date came after PTI leader Fawad Chaudhry alleged that his party was not formally invited by the government. He said the PTI leaders would consult their participation in the APC once the party receives a formal invitation.
Mr. Chaudhry said that they came to know about Shahbaz’s invitation to the PTI pertaining to participation in the APC through the media.
“We have not received any formal invitation,” he said.