As the Senate witnessed a heated debate on the Abbottabad incident, the PPP’s Raza Rabbani on Thursday exposed the government’s claims of harmony between state institutions, saying there was a contradiction in the statements by the Foreign Office and other institutions over the Osama raid.
Speaking on a point of order in the Upper House, Rabbani condemned the statement by Interior Minister Rehman Malik in which he said the Pakistani government would give US access to the widows of Osama Bin Laden. He opposed what might be one of the government’s options regarding the fate of Osama’s family, saying they should not be handed over to the US, but be repatriated to their respective countries.
Nawab Lashkari Raisani said it would be a historical blunder if the Pakistani government handed over Osama’s family to the US. “These pardah-observing women of Osama’s family should not be handed over to the US, they must be repatriated to the countries concerned for a decision on their fate,” he said. He also warned the KESC not to challenge the state’s writ and obey rules to provide relief to the masses.
Senator Khalid Soomro also opposed handing over Osama’s family to the US, saying the government should not earn this “humiliation”. Senator Kalsoom Parveen said the family of Osama Bin Laden should not be handed over to the US. Taking part in the debate, Senator Salim Saifullah demanded the government hold a judicial and parliamentary inquiry into the incident. He feared that once the US starting disliking the country’s president or prime minister, its might stage a similar action to take them away. He criticised the PPP-PML-Q power-sharing deal, saying those who had blamed the government for the miseries of the people had joined it now.
“What kind of democracy is this? It (democracy) cannot flourish without a strong opposition,” he said. He also criticised the MQM and asked it to adopt consistency in its policies. Senator SM Zafar said, “These are the defining moments for Pakistan. Do sovereign states allow foreign boots on their soil…we want our political leadership to be as angry as the people of the country,” he said, adding that the government’s response to the incident was apologetic.
Lamenting the “apathy and inaction of the government” vis-à-vis the US action, Zafar sought a reply from the quarters concerned on whether the US had been given a formal approval for drone strikes inside the Pakistani territory. He said the prime minister needed to treat the Abbottabad incident as a naked aggression against the country.
