PAKISTANI Senate criticises Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif for his 'lukewarm' response on aggression by INDIA on LOCs

The lawmakers in the Senate on Wednesday came down hard on Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif for his "lukewarm" response to Indian aggression and asked him to give a tit-for-tat response to India for continuous shelling on the Line of Control (LoC).

With directives to Adviser to the Prime Minister on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz to brief the House today (Thursday), Chairman Senate Raza Rabbani condemned the unprovoked firing incidents by Indian troops on the LoC.

"The Senate of Pakistan condemns the firing on the LoC by Indian troops in the strongest possible terms, and we want to make it crystal clear to India when it's the defence of the motherland, we're one nation," he added.

He also directed the Foreign Office to explain why it failed to inform the UN Security Council despite repeated shelling on the LoC by the Indian troops, adding that India must know that Pakistan is fully capable to give a befitting response to it.

Earlier, speaking on a point of public importance in the Senate, Senator Sherry Rehman of Pakistan People's Party (PPP) said that the way the Prime Minister is treating India, despite a virtual war declared by the neighbouring country on the LoC, is quite unfortunate.

"The Prime Minister should give a tit-for-tat response to Indian aggression, as Indian troops are killing our people; civilian buses are being attacked and even ambulances are not spared by Indian troops' shelling and the time has come that the Prime Minister must give a befitting response to India," she lamented.

She regretted that instead of civilian government, the military has become the first line of defence, adding the military is always the last line of defence and it is the civilian government which should play its role instead of repeating the rhetoric that the army is retaliating.

"The failure of the government which has no foreign minister, has paved the way for the Modi administration to succeed in its nefarious motives...the Foreign Office has failed to play its due role owing to absence of a full-time foreign minister, what's going on is beyond comprehension," she regretted.

She continued that the government has failed to an extent as now Chinese Embassy has denied visas to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, adding this is quite worrisome and if there could have been a full-time foreign minister, things would not have been so worse.

Senator Kamil Ali Agha of Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) endorsed the points raised by Senator Sherry but he took a jibe on the Prime Minister, saying: "Giving a befitting response is too far, we will appreciate if he [Nawaz Sharif] could even open his mouth against India." He further said, "Nawaz Sharif will never speak against Modi as he has his business interests in India."

He also demanded the Chairman to summon the Prime Minister as he is holding the portfolio of foreign minister instead of summoning the adviser to prime minister on foreign affairs. "Revisit your orders Mr. Chairman and summon the prime minister to give a policy statement in the Senate," he added.

However, Rabbani did not summon the Prime Minister, but he did say that he agreed whatever the points Senator Agha had made about the government in the wake of shelling on the LoC.

Soon after Agha finished his fiery speech, Senator Aitzaz Ahsan, the Opposition Leader in Senate, took the floor and said that he would give Rs50,000 donation to Blind Association of Pakistan, 'if the prime minister even utters the name of Kulbhushan Yadav, (an Indian spy who was caught spying in Pakistan)."

He said if India had arrested a serving colonel of Pakistan Army, it would have presented him before the UN by caging him, but the Prime Minister of Pakistan is yet to utter the name of the spy, who is a serving officer of Indian Navy.

Leader of the House Raja Zafarul Haq called upon the opposition to criticise the government but avoid humiliating their own country by unnecessary criticism on the Prime Minister.