ISLAMABAD, Dec 17: Two key allies of the government on Wednesday advocated efforts for a concord with India in the wake of the Mumbai terror attacks, but an opposition poetess called for a strong stance against perceived Indian threats as the National Assembly continued a debate on national security.

Former leader of opposition, Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam (JUI) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman, and a member of the Awami National Party (ANP) called for a resolution of the Kashmir dispute as a must to end the traditional India-Pakistan hostility, on the second day of the debate on the situation created by the Nov 26 attacks that New Delhi alleges were carried out by gunmen linked to a Pakistan-based militant group.

But poetess Bushra Rehman of the Pakistan Muslim League-Q saw no hope of friendship with a country that she said had not yet reconciled to the creation of Pakistan and accused the government of following a weak foreign policy, which she rhetorically said needed “injections of steel”.

Both JUI and ANP are coalition partners in the centre though they are rivals in the ANP-ruled and militancy-ridden NWFP; Maulana Fazlur Rehman is also the chairman of the parliamentary committee on Kashmir.

After Human Rights Minister Syed Mumtaz Ali Gilani introduced a government bill seeking the establishment of a National Commission for Human Rights, only three members spoke on the second day of the debate that had commenced on Monday with the opening of the assembly’s session and will be resumed on Thursday.

On the demand of leader of Opposition Nisar Ali Khan, PPP’s chief whip and Labour and Manpower Minister Khushid Ahmed Shah agreed that a consensus resolution would be adopted at the end of the debate.

The JUI leader also called for reviewing what he called the country’s ‘imported’ foreign policy as well as the strategy of military operations in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas as part of the so-called war on terrorism while calling for mending fences with India for the sake of peace in the region.

He described the severity of India’s anger at the Mumbai attacks as natural but said there was a “need to make India realise” that its size and position required it to exercise restraint for the sake of peace in the region while “we should also speak words that are more substantial”.

The Maulana said the two countries should identify forces responsible for upsetting peace moves between them whenever the situation seemed to be getting better and take steps so that no power could “shake their resolve” for peace.

ANP member Pervez Khan Khattak earlier called for studying the causes of what he saw as Islamabad’s current isolation over allegations of Pakistan’s links with the Mumbai attacks and said that the Kashmir issue should be resolved because it was the main bone of contention between the two countries, whether it meant recognising the Line of Control or by creating an independent state.

He said there was no scope for playing politics over Kashmir and suggested that the government should remove grievances of Pashtuns and Balochs for national unity and make use of ANP’s help.

CHEERS FOR BAGHDAD SHOES: The opposition benches broke into cheers twice when Bushra Rehman and a PPP back-bencher, Jamshed Dasti, praised the Iraqi journalist who hurled shoes at US President George Bush during a press conference in Baghdad on Sunday.

Ms Rehman said superpowers seeking to harm Muslim nations should learn a lesson from the incident during the US president’s farewell visit or face “Muslims’ shoes” for their acts.

Mr Dasti criticised the alleged torture of the Iraqi television reporter, Muntazer Al Zaidi, who was arrested immediately after he hurled both his shoes one after the other at Mr Bush who ducked to avoid being hit.