ISLAMABAD, April 9: It was amid feelings of shock and helplessness that parliament prayed on Monday for scores of people buried by an avalanche at a Pakistani army camp in Siachen glacier area, with some lawmakers wondering why Pakistan and India should prolong a very costly confrontation on the world’s highest battlefield.

Speaking in a joint sitting of the Senate and National Assembly discussing a review of strategic ties with the United States, some members from both the opposition and the ruling coalition called for accepting foreign help, from wherever available, in the search for 124 soldiers and 11 civilians whose camp was engulfed on Saturday morning by a mass of snow, stones and slush more than 1,000-metre wide and 25-metre high.

When hopes of finding survivors seemed fading, it was a “dua-i-khair” (prayer for health) for the trapped personnel that parliament offered on a move from the Religious Affairs Minister and chief whip of the ruling Pakistan People’s Party, Khurshid Ahmed Shah, along with prayers for the souls of those killed in the recent apparent sectarian violence in Gilgit-Baltistan.

The tragedy at the Gayari headquarters of the Sixth Northern Light Infantry battalion also echoed in several speeches in the inconclusive debate on the report of the bipartisan Parliamentary Committee on National Security for “revised terms of engagement” with US-led Nato forces in Afghanistan on a day that saw more support for the committee’s recommendations, while the two opposition parties maintained a promised boycott of the debate with the exception of one veteran parliamentarian.

“After all why we are fighting such a costly war for (nearly) 30 years,” Senator Haji Mohammad Adeel of the government-allied Awami National Party (ANP) asked after pointing out that harsh weather has killed more people than combat since the Indian and Pakistani confrontation on disputed Kashmir’s Siachen glacier began in 1984. Fearing that human activity in the region, including firing by Indian and Pakistani forces, could have contributed to disturbing glaciers in the area, he asked the government to inform parliament about what it was doing to protect glaciers and settle the dispute over Siachen, where the two sides had once been close to disengagement in the 1990s before a controversy on pre-1984 positions stifled a possible settlement.

Senator M. Hamza of the opposition Pakistan Muslim League-N (PML-N) called for an end to “this process of swallowing human lives” on Siachen and sought a statement on the incident from Defence Minister Chaudhry Ahmed Mukhtar, who was not present in the house at the time.

PML-N MNA Sahibzada Fazal Karim called for taking benefit of President Asif Ali Zardari’s meeting with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh during a private trip to India on Sunday to “move forward” on previous understandings over Siachen.

Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam chief and MNA Maulana Fazlur Rehman, who opposes restoration of the suspended Nato supplies to Afghanistan via Pakistan, said help should be taken from wherever available to save the lives of the trapped personnel.

Four ruling coalition members and one independent supported parliamentary committee’s recommendations on future ties with the US-led forces in Afghanistan, including restoration of Nato supplies that were suspended after a US helicopter attack on two Pakistani border posts in November killed 24 soldiers.

PML-N’s Senator Hamza, who spoke in the debate in an apparent departure from a party line to abstain until the parliamentary committee comes with a revised draft of its report, praised the body for its “intelligence and competence”, but voiced doubts whether the PPP-led government would implement the recommendations.

PPP MNA Nadeem Afzal Gondal and ANP’s Senator Afrasiab Khattak ridiculed opposition parties for running away from the debate after their members on the parliamentary committee, headed by PPP’s Senator Raza Rabbani, had signed the body’s unanimous recommendations.

Independent MNA Usman Khan from Balochistan called for an immediate approval of the recommendations and restoration of Nato supplies.

Interior Minister Rehman Malik and Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan Affairs Minister Manzoor Ahmed Wattoo assured the house that the situation in violence-hit areas of Gilgit-Baltistan was gradually improving after several members voiced concern over the recent killings.

In what seemed to be a move mainly to appease Maulana Fazlur Rehman over his objections, a pro-women bill was put off for the second time before the house was adjourned until 5pm on Tuesday.

The Domestic Violence (Prevention and Protection) Bill had already been passed by the National Assembly and was brought to the joint sitting after it was not passed by the Senate within the required 90 days.

In the last meeting of the joint sitting on Thursday, the JUI chief was furious after the ruling coalition rejected his demand that the bill be sent to the Council of Islamic Ideology for its opinion on whether it had any provisions contrary to the principles of Islam and tempers frayed further after some women activists chanted slogans against him on Friday when a committee of the house met to discuss concerns voiced by the JUI-F and PML-N.

PPP MNA Yasmeen Rehman, who is piloting the bill, condemned what she called an attempt to foil her party’s endeavour for a consensus and said the committee would try to accommodate Maulana’s suggestions in a meeting on Tuesday.