The top military brass is briefing the lawmakers from the government and the opposition on national security issues at a meeting of the Parliamentary Committee on National Security (PCNS) in Islamabad on Monday.

The meeting is underway in the capital with the National Assembly Speaker Asad Qaiser in the chair and Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Qamar Javed Bajwa, Director-General Inter-Services Intelligence Lt Gen Faiz Hameed, DG Inter-Services Public Relations Major General Babar Iftikhar in attendance.

The high-level meeting comes hours after the government lifted the ban on TLP following a proposal by the Punjab government, saying the decision was taken “in the larger national interest”.

Last week, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) had also released over 800 detained supporters of the group, reportedly, as per the same agreement. The TLP was protesting over the detention of its leader Saad Rizvi, who was arrested in April when the group was outlawed by authorities and was demanding the expulsion of the French ambassador from Pakistan.

On November 4, the provincial cabinet had approved the removal of the TLP from the list of proscribed organisations.

Following more than a week of clashes, the government last month reached an ‘agreement’ with the group but did not reveal any details. Several thousand TLP supporters began a stop-start march from Lahore to Islamabad last month, reaching about one-third of the way before calling it off.

The meeting is also being attended by other notables, including the chief minister from all the provinces, Leader of the Opposition in National Assembly Shehbaz Sharif, Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi, Pakistan Muslim League-N (PML-N) Spokesperson Marriyum Aurengzeb, Raja Pervaiz Ashraf, Rana Sanaullah, Murtaza Javed Abbasi, Babar Awan, Yousaf Raza Gillani and Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari among others.