The Senate was informed on Wednesday that the government has no 'solid evidence' against India for its involvement in kidnapping of a former military officer Lieutenant Colonel Habib (Retd) from Nepal due to which the case could not be taken to International Court of Justice (ICJ) on presumptions.
Winding up a debate on an adjournment motion on kidnapping of Lieutenant Colonel (Retd) Habib, Federal Minister for Ministry of States and Frontier Regions (Safron) Lieutenant General (Retd) Abdul Qadir Baloch said that Pakistan had not got any proof yet that India or any of its intelligence agencies kidnapped the retired officer of Pakistan Army.
Responding to the demand made by lawmakers that Pakistan should take the case to ICJ, the minister while responding on behalf of Adviser to the Prime Minister on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz said that the case could not be taken to ICJ on the basis of assumptions, as it would be against international norms.
Giving the details, he said that the retired officer reached Kathmandu via Oman and the people who received him there were Indian nationals. However, he said that this has not yet been ascertained whether or not they work for Indian government, adding that apparently, they work for a tourist firm.
"Foreign Office has been making its utmost efforts to trace the missing retired officer since April 6 and was in contact with the Nepalese government to get the identity of those persons who remained in touch with the officer. We have also contacted the government of India in this connection," he added.
This infuriated Chairman Senate Raza Rabbani who said, "Is Foreign Office is exonerating the state of India in kidnapping case of Colonel Habib? I know that the minister had only read out the brief given to him by the Foreign Office."
Upon this, Baloch said that he agrees 100 per cent with the lawmakers that India is involved in this kidnapping and this incident has links with the Kulbhushan Jadhav case. "But the only thing I have said that we didn't have conclusive proof against India," he added. He further said that the case could not be taken to ICJ or UN on the basis of assumptions.
The chairman Senate again reiterated his remarks that no information, either inconclusive or conclusive, could be withheld form the Parliament. "If there is need that some information cannot be made public, it can be shared in an in-camera session or in my chamber for members," he said.
He directed the adviser to the prime minister on foreign affairs to brief the House today (Thursday) regarding media reports about this kidnapping incident, Qatar crisis and recent happenings in Afghanistan. The chair left it up to the adviser whether the briefing should be held in-camera or open for media. Earlier, taking part in the debate on kidnapping of Lieutenant Colonel Habib (Retd)MQM Senator Ateeq Sheikh, the mover of the motion, said that government should have to see whether the kidnapping case was meant to pressurise Pakistan to hand over Jadhav to India.
PPPP Senator Rehman Malik demanded that Pakistan should take this case to ICJ. Sehar Kamran said that retired officer was trapped by luring a job and the army should see whether it should maintain track record of its retired officers. Sherry Rehman of PPPP criticised the foreign policy of the country, saying it is on 'an auto pilot'. She said that Indian external affairs minister said that Pakistan should not take Kashmir issue to ICJ but deplored that no one from Pakistani side was ready to respond the statement.
Leader of the Opposition Senator Aitzaz Ahsan blamed the government for not properly pursing the cases of its citizens internationally. He gave examples of Dr Uzma and Kulbhushan and said that India had done a lot for its citizens. He blamed that the government had concentrated all of its forces to make controversial joint investigation team (JIT) and SC judges.
State Minister for Petroleum and Natural Resources Jam Kamal responded to the call attention notice moved by Senator Tahir Mashhadi that drew the attention of the government about alleged "embezzlement of Rs 134 billion by national and international gas companies which extracted and sold oil for last 6 years while according to law they could extract and sell oil for two years."
He said that these matters were pointed out in audit paras and the issue was now before the Public Accounts Committee (PAC). He said that companies make such extractions under a policy of the government and could not violate it. The companies were bound to sell extracted gas and oil only to government owned companies at subsidised rates, he said.
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