ISLAMABAD: Senators on Tuesday assailed Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi for hurling bellicose threats at Pakistan, regretting that war hysteria continues to grip New Delhi despite Islamabad’s peace overtures.

PPP parliamentary leader in the house Sherry Rehman, during the Senate proceedings, referred to the latest speech of Mr Modi threatening to carry out attacks inside Pakistan, and sought a briefing on Indian motives. She also asked how an Indian submarine entered Pakistan’s waters and regretted that intrusions from the other side continued. She asked the foreign ministry to come out of what she called deep slumber.

Senator Javed Abbasi of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz said it was an issue linked with the country’s integrity. “It was as big an incident as the violation of Pakistan’s airspace by Indian fighter jets,” he said.

He asked as to who instantly decided to let the Indian submarine go back and wondered if the government would continue with the policy of courtesy in response to intrusions. He said it appeared that India was not interested in de-escalating the tension.

New Delhi’s dossier contains no actionable, concrete evidence, minister tells upper house of parliament

Dr Shahzad Wasim of the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf said the Inter-Services Public Relations’ press release clearly stated that “the submarine was trying to enter Pakistan waters”.

Mushtaq Ahmad of the Jamaat-i-Islami also expressed alarm at the naval intrusion attempt by India and the threatening posture of the Indian prime minister. “I am not in a habit of pardoning,” he quoted Mr Modi as saying.

Minister for Planning and Development Khusro Bakhtiar said Pakistan’s armed forces had the resolve to guard against any ingress. He said the Pakistan Air Force had given a befitting response to the violation of the country’s airspace. He said the Indian submarine could not enter Pakistan’s maritime zone and the attempt had been thwarted by the Pakistan Navy.

Earlier during the question hour, Mr Bakhtiar told the Senate that the dossier India had given to Pakistan carried no actionable and concrete evidence through which it could be proved that the latter had extended any support to non-state actors for the Pulwama attack.

He condemned reinforcement of troops in India-held Kashmir after February 22, saying no matter how many times India increased the number of its occupation forces in held Kashmir, it would not be able to suppress the voice of the Kashmiris for their right to self-determination.

The opposition lawmakers staged a walkout in protest against constant absence of ministers from house proceedings, saying cabinet members did not pay any heed to the “house of federation”.

The controversy over the ‘death drama’ staged by Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (DRAP) Chief Executive Officer Sheikh Akhtar Hussain also echoed in the Senate. Mushtaq Ahmed asked how the federal government had handpicked Mr Hussain as DRAP CEO, who had previously declared himself dead in a National Accountability Bureau reference against himself.

Federal Minister for National Health Services Aamer Kiyani defended the ‘controversial’ DRAP CEO, saying he had been cleared of all allegations, including a fake PhD degree, by the high court and the Supreme Court.

The Senate will meet again on Wednesday (today) at 3pm.

Published in Dawn, March 6th, 2019