NEW DELHI: Pakistan was made a scapegoat in the Indian Parliament yesterday when several members gave vent to their anti-Nehru feelings and censured his government for entering into the Indus Waters Treaty and agreement on railway services with Pakistan.

While a motion seeking to initiate a discussion on the recently concluded Indo-Pakistan railways agreement was disallowed by the Speaker, 17 other members moving jointly a motion succeeded in raising a discussion on the Indus Waters Treaty.

Almost all opposition parties joined hands to exploit the situation and accused the government of having yielded too much to Pakistan while ignoring its own interests. Several Congress members also joined the opposition in criticising the government, flouting the party discipline.

In a heated debate that followed, Pakistan was accused of dishonesty and even the president of Pakistan and the old All-India Muslim League were not spared. Referring to the railways agreement, several members sought an assurance from the government that it had nothing to do with the demand of the old Muslim League reported to have been made during the lifetime of the Quaid-i-Azam for a corridor between East and West Pakistan through the Indian territory.

Criticising the waters agreement, many members claimed that on the one hand it has let down the interests of the country and on the other it has encouraged Pakistan to come forward with a demand for the physical possession of Kashmir, which was the source of the river allotted to it under the treaty. Some others described the treaty as one-sided and amounting to another “partition of the country”.

Mr Nehru, however, boldly defended the treaty, describing it as a “very good treaty” and congratulated the engineers and others who were associated with the successful conclusion of the treaty for their good work.

To those who opposed it “without understanding its implications”, he said they were “narrow-minded, rigid” and talked “perversion”.

He went one step further and strongly criticised those who were building up an opposition to the Indo-Pakistan border agreement, in particular reference to the Berubari Union. He said it was wrong to say that the West Bengal government was not consulted on the issue.