The lawmakers in Senate on Wednesday grilled Federal Minister for Defence Khawaja Muhammad Asif over civilian government's lukewarm response to India in wake of Kulbhushan Yadav arrest - an Indian spy who was caught by the Pakistani authorities last month.
The minister was giving an in-camera briefing to the Senate on an adjournment motion moved by Senators Farhatullah Babar, Mohsin Leghari, Mohsin Aziz, Seher Kamran and Hafiz Hamdullah, about the arrest of RAW agent, who confessed of operating across Pakistan especially in Balochistan.
The sources said that the minister had nothing new to say except repeating the rhetoric that had already been reported in the media. The briefing by the minister, which the sources said, was nothing but a formality.
Some of the enraged senators questioned the apologetic attitude of the government especially Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif towards India despite involvement of its state actors to destabilise Pakistan.
The minister had nothing to say except saying that Pakistan has taken up the issue at international level through diplomatic channels, which prompted some of the lawmakers from opposition to say that mere protest is not enough as the time has come that Pakistan must expose India before the world.
They said that the way Prime Minister Sharif demonstrated after the Indian spy was caught red handed, was quite disappointing and unbecoming of a chief executive of the country for not pursuing the matter the way it should have been taken up.
Some senators, the sources said, even went to the extent of saying that the prime minister did not even bother to openly condemn the nefarious motives of India, as its state actors and not the non-state actors, were found involved in creating anarchy inside Pakistan.
They questioned what else the prime minister wanted to take on India as a serving RAW agent was held by the intelligence agencies, who openly confessed that he had undertaken numerous terrorist activities inside Pakistan.
Earlier, chairman Senate Raza Rabbani suspended the proceedings of the house for about half an hour after minister for planning and development Ahsan Iqbal was not seen in the house to answer the question relating to his ministry.
The chairman suspended the proceedings with directives to the minister to ensure his presence within thirty minutes or be ready to face the music. The warning came as a bomb shell to the minister, who turned up in the house within fifteen minutes of the warning by the chairman with barrage of apologies.
However, his reply did not satisfy the chairman Senate who issued orders to Senate Secretariat to write letters to all the ministries, making it clear to them that no minister can skip proceedings of the house unless it is 'imperative'.