ISLAMABAD: As the war of words between Pakistan and India escalates, both houses of parliament on Thursday condemned “disturbing” and “hostile” statements made recently by key leaders, especially Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Both the National Assembly and the Senate interrupted their budget debates to unanimously adopt similar, strongly-worded resolutions, accusing Indian leaders of trying to destabilise Pakistan at a time when it was fighting a war against terrorism and urged the international community to take notice of the situation.

The National Assembly resolution, moved by Finance Minister Ishaq Dar, said the house “vehemently condemns the irresponsible and hostile statements against Pakistan from the Indian ruling leadership”, adding that such utterances “called into question India’s desire to establish good-neighbourly relations with Pakistan”.

The parliamentary response followed strong condemnation of the Indian outbursts from the military leadership and certain ministers.

These was hectic activity in the National Assembly on Thursday and the Minister for States and Frontier Regions Abdul Qadir Baloch and PPP’s Shazia Marri were seen taking the draft of the resolution to their parliamentary leaders for amendment and approval.

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif was also apparently shown a copy when he briefly came to the house, but the resolution was passed much later, in his absence.

Taking “serious note” of Mr Modi’s statements during his recent visit to Bangladesh, the resolution said the Indian PM had acknowledged the “Indian government’s conspiracy and involvement in the events of 1971 in the former East Pakistan.

“Such statements confirm Pakistan’s belief about past and present Indian involvement in destabilising Pakistan,” it said.

It also noted the irony in Mr Modi’s efforts to make a case for India’s permanent membership of the United Nations Security Council while being in violation of the council’s long-standing resolutions on Jammu and Kashmir “as well as interfering in the internal affairs of other states in contravention of the UN charter”.

The house also regretted that Mr Modi made such statements in Bangladesh, “aimed at stoking hatred against Pakistan” there and said, “Indian attempts to sow seeds of discord between the peoples of Pakistan and Bangladesh will not succeed.”

Published in Dawn June 12th, 2015

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