ISLAMABAD: Senators on Wednesday deplored the Indian reaction to the conviction of its spy Kulbhushan Jadhav and denounced the bellicose threats emanating from New Delhi, with a warning that any misadventure would evoke a befitting response.

Speaking on points of public importance, they said Jadhav’s conviction was based on concrete evidence and his own confessional statement while things would have been different had a Pakistani been caught by Indians on mere suspicion.

Senator Nihal Hashmi of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) said Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi was a terrorist and a case for killing of thousands in Gujarat had been registered against him. He said the Indian leader had himself confessed to having played a role in Pakistan’s dismemberment in 1971 and urged the United Nations to officially declare him as No 1 terrorist of the world.

He said successive Indian governments, institutions and politicians had been working on a plan for over four decades to harm Pakistan and disrupt peace in the country by sponsoring terrorist activities.

Abid Sher Ali claims provinces being given water as per their demand

Mr Hashmi said the conviction of a terrorist under due process of law should not have become a reason for tumult in India’s parliament. Rather, he added, the heads of Indian lawmakers should have hung in shame.

He said 12 Pakistanis were languishing in Indian jails even after completing their terms of sentence, but they were not being released.

The PML-N senator said Indian legislators had spoken as if the lawmakers in Pakistan were dumb and had gone to the extent of speaking of breaking Pakistan into pieces. He warned that any such attempt would be given a befitting response.

At this, Senate chairman Mian Raza Rabbani remarked that the reaction from India having expansionist designs should not surprise the senators.

Sassui Palejo of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) said the punishment awarded to Jadhav was less if compared with the gravity of the crime he had committed.

“Had India captured a Pakistani just on suspicion, they would have kept him in a cage to show it to the entire world,” she added. She condemned the statement of Indian External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj cautioning Pakistan to be ready to face consequences if Jadhav was sent to the gallows.

The PPP’s Sherry Rehman said a serving officer of RAW had been arrested last year, but regretted that the connected matters, including his confessional statement, were not brought before the world by the government.

She said Ms Swaraj was using social media, including Twitter, to create an impression as if an innocent person had been convicted. She regretted that the Indian lobby had been trying to bring Pakistan to the dock for five years, but there was a silence from the Pakistan side.

Responding to a calling attention notice, Minister for States and Frontier Regions retired Lt Gen Abdul Qadir Baloch said every citizen was in danger due to the ongoing wave of terrorism.

He said Pakistan had a porous border of 2,600 kilometres with Afghanistan which was used by militants belonging to the militant Islamic State and Khurasani groups to come to Pakistan and carry out terrorist activities here. The minister said militants in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas also resorted to terrorist activities when they failed to get extortion money.

Water shortage in Sindh

Minister of State for Water and Power Abid Sher Ali claimed that all the provinces were being given water as per their demand in accordance with the 1991 water accord. Neither was there any injustice nor any reduction in water supply to the provinces, he added.

However, he said water storage had dropped to the dead level in March and there was a fear of 17 per cent shortfall of water for the upcoming crop.

PPP parliamentary leader Taj Haider tried to challenge the minister’s claim but was not allowed by the Senate chairman.

The chairman observed that it was an intricate and delicate question and referred the matter to the house committee concerned, saying that the minister’s response had failed to satisfy the senators.

Published in Dawn, April 13th, 2017