ISLAMABAD: Four key cabinet members will answer all the questions of MPs during the in-camera joint parliamentary session, which resumes on Monday to discuss the ongoing operation in the tribal areas and parts of the North West Frontier Province (NWFP) against terrorists and extremists.

“Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi, Defence Minister Chaudhry Ahmed Mukhtar, adviser on finance Shaukat Tareen and myself will be answering questions on our respective portfolios,” interior adviser Rehman Malik told The News.

He said the briefing on the national security would be all embracing, covering each and every aspect of the anti-terror war and Pakistan’s involvement in it. Malik said it was aptly decided by President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani in consultation with the federal cabinet that Information Minister Sherry Rehman would give the overall comprehensive briefing to the joint session, but would leave the specific questions to be answered by the concerned ministers and advisors so that replies are elaborately to the point.

The advisor said Sherry Rehman has been provided with extensive inputs and solid material, laced with facts and figures, by all the relevant ministries so that her answers satisfied all the members of the Parliament. He said he could not say anything about the time she would take in concluding her presentations, opening on Monday. “It would be a multi-ministry briefing because the war on terror covers many spheres.”

Malik said that the objective of detailing all the concerned ministers to answer MPs’ queries was that no confusion was left in the mind of any participant. He said there would be no bar on the MPs to ask any number of questions. The purpose is to make them fully conversant with the ground situation and urge them to come out with suggestions to bring about improvement in the government’s strategy.

Monday will be the third day of the joint sitting. The first day was consumed by a briefing by the Director General, Military Operations, (DGMO), Lt-Gen Ahmed Shuja Pasha, who has now assumed the office of the chief of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI). The second day was limited to question-answer session in which he fielded queries.

However, most MPs publicly expressed dissatisfaction over the briefing and the answers to their questions. The main opposition party, the PML-N, avoided to ask questions saying it didn’t expect appropriate answers would be given. However, those who asked questions were also dissatisfied with the answers provided by the DGMO.

The government therefore decided to enlarge the scope of the briefing from the mere military matters to different facets of the anti-terror war being fought by Pakistan as several MPs also demanded a full-scale presentation. After Sherry Rehman’s presentation, the MPs are likely to get a clearer picture of the government’s policy. A general debate will also be held over the next three days.