Amid escalating tensions between India and Pakistan, Senate on Friday approved a 22-point report of Senate Committee of the Whole House, recommending revival of back channel diplomacy with India besides initiating Confidence Building Measures (CBMs). Raja Zafarul Haq, leader of the House in Senate, presented the report in Senate, which the Committee of the Whole House had finalised on Wednesday.
"Keeping in view the need, efficacy and usefulness of backchannel talks between India and Pakistan, the talks should be restored. The bilateral and Kashmir-related confidence-building measures need to be restored and expanded," said the 22-point report. Chairman Senate Raza Rabbani had formed a committee of 12-member panel to frame policy guidelines in view of the latest situation developing between Pakistan and India especially after the Uri incident.
Rabbani appreciated the members of the committee for preparing extremely useful guidelines for government within a very short span of time. He expressed hope that the government would benefit from the recommendations put forth by the Committee of the Whole House, adding it will also be helpful in reviving of parliament's National Security Committee.
Senator Aitzaz Ahsan, opposition leader in the Senate, noted that the report was very important in context of Pakistan's isolation and failure of foreign policy to counter the India's aggressive approach towards Pakistan. Raja Zafarul Haq said the report would help the government cope with challenges and a copy of it should also be sent to National Assembly.
He clarified that the challenges have always been for Pakistan and not for a government so both the government and opposition needed to be on the same page. The senators lauded the role of upper house for its timely input on key national matters with a particular reference to introduction of the committee of the house which finalised the report. The report underlined the need for highlighting Indian intervention in Pakistan and in the context of arrest of a serving Indian navy commander Kulbhusan Yadav.
It insisted that the matter along with human rights violations in Indian held Kashmir should have been and should be raised at various important world forums. "The government should immediately appoint a permanent foreign minister and hire international lobbyists and strategic communication firms and reactivate Pakistani community, living abroad to change global narrative," it said. "Main thrust of our Kashmir narrative should be violation of UN charter chapter 1, article 1 and 2 by India, which guarantee rights of self-determination. Violation of international declaration of human rights in Kashmir by Indian forces with highest population to soldiers' ratio: 1-5," it added.
It further stated that violation of the Geneva Convention where prisoners and wounded have certain fundamental rights, adding Indian violations along our eastern border will force Pakistan to pull troops deployed to fight war on terror. "The large number of marginalized youth in Jammu and Kashmir can be vulnerable to the incitement of extremist forces and trigger huge challenges for regional and global stability," the report said.
The report said that India's own fault lines in their alienated Muslims, Sikhs, Christians and Dalits as well as the growing Maoist insurgency be highlighted and in this context, services of two official think-tanks, whose major task is to study India ie the Islamabad Policy Research Institute and Institute of Regional Studies can be attached to the relevant committees of the parliament.
It said Modi and his RSS ideology of Hindutva should be targeted, adding that there is a need for a comprehensive outreach to those segments of Indian public opinion, which are opposed to Modi's extremism and his anti-Pakistan policies. Pakistan should re-establish periodical/regular special briefings for foreign media and social media should be also utilised for publicising Jammu and Kashmir issue, it added.
"A task force be formed for formulating a doable and sustainable India/Kashmir policy that should include the chairs of the committees of both Houses of Parliament on defence and foreign affairs as well as representatives of the Foreign Office and Ministry of Defence and intelligence," said the report.
On the matter of non-availability of Director General Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) Lieutenant General Rizwan Akhtar, Rabbani said that before time, the ISI DG had asked him at his office about the nature of cantours of the briefing to be given to Senate committee of the Whole House, dispelling the impression that he had skipped the panel meeting.
"The committee of the whole will have more meetings on policy guidelines and the ISI chief will be called and he will come. Therefore, there should be no such impression that he avoided the last meeting," he added.
Rabbani noted that ISI chief had also wanted to know from him, at his Parliament House office, should some other aspects of Pak-India situation and Kashmir issue be highlighted during the Senate panel meeting. He added that time for briefing was also set but due to back to back key meetings on Monday and Tuesday, he had to travel to the provinces in connection with the decisions with regards to the National Action Plan implementation.
The chairman Senate pointed out that he had to clarify the matter on the floor of the House after this issue was raised: the record should be corrected accordingly. "Had you been in the committee meeting, you would not have raised the matter here, as I had explained the situation during its meeting," Rabbani said.
Rabbani spoke after Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party (PkMAP) Senator Usman Kakar raised the issue of absence of ISI chief from the committee's in-camera meeting on Thursday and complained: "Is this the worth of parliament?" "The parliament should be sovereign and formulate the interior and foreign policies and who will resolve the Kashmir issue," he wondered. Rabbani contended that supremacy of parliament was such a gift, which could not be won while sitting at home, as practical efforts are needed to strengthen it for which we all are struggling.
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