A legislative body of the upper house of the Parliament on Monday accused India of continuously backing terrorist activities in Pakistan.
Several members of the Senate Standing Committee on Interior pointed to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s statements about his government’s involvement in Balochistan and said that it was no secret that India’s intelligence agency Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) was behind terrorist attacks in Pakistan to sabotage the CPEC.
Senator Rehman Malik chaired the meeting where these views were expressed.
Malik moved a resolution condemning Indian involvement in Balochistan through Balochistan Libration Army (BLA). “The committee unanimously condemns the Indian continuous interference in Balochistan. The Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Minister for Interior had threatened Pakistan earlier that they would sort out Pakistan through Balochistan. Attack on Chinese Consulate Karachi was claimed by BLA, whereas BLA is being openly supported by India.”
The committee condemned the terrorist attack on Chinese Consulate in Karachi and the deadly blast in Orakzai agency. The committee also passed a unanimous resolution against terrorist attack on Chinese consulate. According to the resolution, the committee condemns the terrorist attack on Chinese Consulate in Karachi and also expressed grief and sorrow over the loss of precious lives of two policemen and two civilians. The committee saluted the martyred policemen ASI Ashraf Dawood and constable Amir Khan who sacrificed their lives and blocked the entry of terrorists. The committee also advised the government to further enhance the security of Chinese citizens, and to revisit the security plan of the Red Zone and the Diplomatic Enclave. The government should ensure no security violation in such sensitive zones, it demanded.
Malik termed the attack as part of a conspiracy to create unrest in the country. However, he asserted that our common enemies will not succeed in their nefarious designs to dent China Pakistan friendship and sabotage CPEC. “Attack on Chinese Consulate is an attack on Sino- Pak strong bond of friendship and is a part of anti Pak-China friendship agenda,” he said. Pakistan and China will work together to counter such cowardly attempts, he added.
The committee also passed a resolution against the bomb blast in Orakzai Agency in which more than 35 innocent people lost their lives. The Committee demanded the government to take strict action against terrorists and also asked it to brief the committee about investigation into the blast.”
Deliberating over compensations for victims, Senator Rana Maqbool Ahmad suggested that it was imperative that the committee takes notice of the government making blank announcements with no further implementation. He mentioned the case of Chaudhary Aslam, who was assassinated, and asserted that uniformity of compensation was imperative. The chairman of the committee directed that all inspector generals and home secretaries may be summoned to review the compensation policy.
The committee unanimously approved the Islamabad Capital Territory Prohibition of Interest on Private Loan Bills of 2017, introduced by Senator Sirajul Haq. Haq said the adoption of Islamic Banking was on the rise across the globe due to the ills associated with interest in conventional banking system. He stressed that interest was against the tenets of Islam and was tantamount to waging war against Allah and His Prophet (peace be upon him). The committee also unanimously decided to move a motion in the House for constitution of a committee to examine TORs for Reconciliation and Truth Commission and to revise numerous national issues including returning of heavy foreign debts, political victimization and delay in various constitutional reforms.
Meanwhile, the committee was briefed by the Islamabad mayor and the Capital Development Authority chairman on action taken against encroachments and other violations in Islamabad Capital Territory. The committee expressed concerns that CDA was demolishing shops, plazas, houses and other places without giving any notice to the alleged grabbers. The committee chairman asked who had allowed these encroachments in the first place, and stressed that officials of the CDA had earlier allowed the people to build shops, plazas, houses and outlets illegally. He said strict actions must be taken against officers of the CDA for illegally issuing NOCs, and permission to people to run their business and build houses on government property.
Published in Daily Times, November 27th 2018.
