The government said on Wednesday it would not allow any surgical strike inside Pakistan and was fully prepared to respond if war was imposed by India as it got full backing from all the political parties on national security.
Leader of the House in Senate Raza Rabbani stated this in his winding up speech on national security debate to a point earlier raised by opposition leader Kamil Ali Agha, who claimed that a report said the government had given consent to India for carrying out a surgical strike at one place.
Rabbani said the government would not allow any surgical strike inside Pakistan by India, adding that Pakistan, being a peaceful country, desired peace in region as well as in the world, but its desire should not be taken as weakness. "We will respond with optimum capability if thrown into war", he said as Senators from across the political divide offered full support to the government.
Rabbani said that India had not provided evidence so far that could prove involvement of any Pakistani citizen into Mumbai attacks. "We will investigate if got any solid evidence from India", he said, assuring that they would be tried in Pakistani courts and no one would be handed over to India as this had been the stated position of Pakistan from the beginning.
Earlier, taking part in the debate, Senators from both the sides called for unity by setting aside all political differences as the county was passing through a critical situation. They supported the government, and at the same time, pointed out the mistakes, which the government made in handling the situation aroused in the aftermath of Mumbai incident.
Chaudhry Anwar Bhindar said that the country was confronting challenges on national security because India accused Pakistan of Mumbai terror attacks to hide its own security lapse as well as to defame Pakistan. He proposed that Islamic countries and Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC) should be taken into confidence.
Senator S M Zafar said that India was behaving arrogantly as the US did after 9/11. "India has not been able provide any kind of evidence to Pakistan regarding the alleged involvement of Pakistani citizens in Mumbai attacks, although a month has elapsed," he said. He said that Pakistani armed forces were well equipped and capable of defending the country's territory. "We have full confidence in our armed forces," and also criticised the Indian leadership and media's role in the wake of Mumbai attacks.
He urged the government to call the meeting of Pakistani diplomats and envoys to brief them regarding the facts and future strategy and take into confidence the Islamic countries. Senator Ishaq Dar said that convening all parties conference (APC) was a good step by the government after the Mumbai attacks, which got support from all the political parties, but it could not take benefit of the mandate given by political parties.
He urged the government to ensure implementation of joint session's resolution to maintain peace in Fata and other troubled areas as Pakistan needed a stability in sense of economic that could not be achieved as long as the menace of terrorism was not rooted out. "We should not protect the foreigners nurtured by the US," he said, adding the elements trained and financed at the time of Afghan Jihad posed great threat to Pakistan's survival.
"We have to root them out not for someone else but for Pakistan's own interest," Dar said, and added that three-pronged strategy cleared by the joint session of the Parliament should be implemented religiously to root out terrorism from Pakistani soil. He appealed to the government to handle the situation courageously to bring about security in the country.
Senator Nisar A Memon said that India had already launched war against Pakistan by violating its airspace. It also launched a battle at the diplomatic front as well by manoeuvring Mumbai attacks against Pakistan. This, India did to avoid its failure on security front from the world community that might have seen its internal security system failing to protect nuclear weapons, he opined.
He said that the Army should be directed to take strict action in case India again violated Pakistan's airspace, and also wanted the trade with India should be suspended forthwith till it came to negotiations table.
He said the Interior Ministry should immediately start civil and defence exercises and political parties should stop point scoring. Senators Professor Sajid Mir, Kulsoom Perveen, Rehana Yahya Baloch, Jamal Leghari, Yasmeen Shah Razina Alam Khan and others also took part in the debate as the Senate was prorogued after the debate.
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