ISLAMABAD, April 25: Opposition parties on Monday accused the government of using state terrorism to crush political dissent and walked out in protest on the first day of a Senate session that had been requisitioned by them. The walkout was followed by an inconclusive debate in which opposition senators denounced three recent police actions against opposition programmes and warned the government of ‘dire consequences’ if alleged repressive policies were continued.

Before the start of the debate, which will continue on Tuesday, the treasury and opposition benches joined voices to regret a recent European parliament snub to a Senate delegation because the eight-member team visiting Brussels was accompanied by a pro-Taliban Senator, Maulana Samiul Haq of the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal (MMA).

But after the unanimous passage of a mildly-worded resolution moved by the treasury benches, the opposition used the incident — Maulana Haq’s detention at the Brussels airport for some time on April 19 and refusal of the European parliament to hold talks with the Pakistani delegation if he were there — to pour scorn on the government’s handling of foreign affairs.

“Some heads in the foreign office must roll,” opposition leader Raza Rabbani said as he accused the foreign ministry of negligence and called the incident a humiliation of the whole country rather than of an individual or a delegation.

He likened the incident to the alleged humiliation of elected representatives within the country and cited the April 16 crackdown against his People’s Party Parliamentarians (PPP) when, according to him, even parliament members were dragged on roads by the Punjab police to block a peaceful welcome to ex-senator Asif Ali Zardari on his return from Dubai.

Mr Rabbani, who said arrests of the PPP workers were still continuing, also protested against police actions on the occasions of general strikes called by the Pakistan Oppressed Nations Movement (PONM) on March 31 and by the MMA on April 2 before he led the token walkout.

Senator Raza Mohammad Raza of the Pukhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party and Maulana Gul Naseeb of the MMA also complained of the use of state machinery against the opposition workers before the house was adjourned until 10.30am on Tuesday.

The unanimous Senate resolution regretted the ‘discriminatory attitude’ shown to Maulana Haq and appeared milder than a condemnation of the incident passed by the National Assembly on Thursday.

It urged the government to lodge a strong protest with the European parliament and take steps to ensure due respect to parliament members while visiting abroad.

But Maulana Haq added a new element to the situation, saying that besides the Brussels ordeal he had also been questioned and his briefcase searched by the British airport authorities while he was returning home.

Mr Rabbani in his speech said that the visit of the Senate delegation should have been called off immediately after the Brussels affair.