Director General Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Lieutenant General Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry and Information Minister Ataullah Tarar briefed senior political leaders from various parties on the national security on Sunday.
“If aggression is imposed on Pakistan, the armed forces are fully prepared to deliver a befitting response,” Lt Gen Chaudhry warned during the in-camera briefing at state TV headquarters in Islamabad, sources said.
The two nuclear-armed neighbours are experiencing a period of heightened tensions since the April 22 attack on tourists in the scenic resort town of Pahalgam in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK), in which at least 26 people were killed.
New Delhi linked Islamabad to the attack without offering any evidence and took a flurry of punitive measures to downgrade ties, including suspending the Indus Waters Treaty, revoking visas of Pakistanis, and closing Wagah-Attari border crossing, among others.
Islamabad, in response, ordered the expulsion of Indian diplomats and military advisers, cancelling visas for Indian nationals, with the exception of Sikh pilgrims, and closing the main border crossing from its side.
Pakistan also denies its involvement in the attack and offered to take part in a credible and transparent investigation.
During the briefing, sources said the session focused on Pakistan’s security position in light of the evolving situation, particularly following India’s baseless accusations after the Pahalgam incident. A large number of political representatives attended the session.
Senior politicians, including PML-N leaders Khurram Dastgir and Abid Sher Ali, Adviser to PM on Interior Pervez Khattak, and MQM leader Dr Farooq Sattar attended the crucial security briefing.
JUI-F’s Noor Alam Khan, Senator Abdul Shakoor and BAP Senator Abdul Qadir, Sindh ministers Nasir Hussain Shah, Sharjeel Memon, Saeed Ghani and PML-N’s Mohsin Shahnawaz Ranjha were also present at the meeting.
DG ISPR apprised the participants of the Pakistan Army’s readiness, reiterating that while Pakistan is a peace-loving nation and seeks regional stability, the armed forces are fully prepared to respond decisively in case of any aggression.
Sources added that Tarar also briefed political leaders on the government’s diplomatic efforts and Pakistan’s official stance at the international level.
Separately, in a statement on X, PTI said its participation in the briefing was “unnecessary” as the party believed there was “no serious attempt to create a national consensus” by the government and that there was no intention to include PTI founder Imran Khan either.
The party said it had always unequivocally condemned every kind of terrorism in all its forms. It said that the government should have immediately convened a multi-party conference, so that a common course of action could have been drawn up by taking all parties into confidence.
