ISLAMABAD - Senate Chairman Raza Rabbani on Monday warned the United States and the United Kingdom governments from issuing statements on the issue of missing social media activists, terming it interference in the internal matters of the country.

“The statements from the US State Department and the UK government about the missing social media campaigners are very inappropriate as this is our internal issue,” he said before the state minister for the interior was about to brief the house about the recent abduction of at least four activists and bloggers from Islamabad and Lahore region.

The activists, known on social media for their secular leftist views, vanished from the scene in first week of this month, prompting protests and speculations that they had been picked by state agencies. There’s still no news about them though government says it was trying to find them and ensure their safe return.

A rights crusader Jibran Nasir has filed a petition in the Supreme Court asking the court to intervene for safe recovery of Salman Haider, Ahmed Waqas Goraya, Asim Saeed, and Ahmed Raza Naseer.

Haider went missing from Islamabad on Jan 6 while Naseer was allegedly seized near Nankana Sahib on Jan 7. Goraya, who was visiting from Holland, and Saeed, who was visiting from Singapore, were ‘abducted’ from Lahore on Jan 4.

“Both the governments [US and UK] have no right to speak on the issue because they always remained silent on the extrajudicial killings and missing persons in Indian-held Kashmir as well as killings of innocent people in Kashmir,” Rabbani said presenting a poor argument.

“We will not allow any external governments to meddle in our affairs. Perhaps, Brahmanism, Zionist and white racist nexus is working and we will not allow them,” he said, sounding more like that of a rightwing leader than a member of the PPP, a party know for its secular thought and character.

Last week, the US and the UK in separate statements had expressed concerns over reports of missing Pakistani social media activists.

Later, State Minister for Interior Baleegur Rehman while briefing the house on the issue said that efforts were being made to trace their whereabouts but on Monday he failed to give any update to the house about any breakthrough.

“This is frightening when there is no headway. If there are charges against them, register a case against them but to go missing in this way and state’s failure to recover them is frightening state of affairs,” Rabbani said.

The chair said that Senate human rights committee was looking into the matter and directed the minister to ask the Islamabad police to appear before it.

Speaking on a motion on the continued Indian violations of the Line of Control (LoC) and the ceasefire along the Working Boundary (WB), Defence Minister Khawaja Asif told the house that Pakistan’s armed forced would fully respond if India ever dared to carry out surgical strikes inside Pakistan. “Our forces have responded to all violations in the past,” he said.

Terming the statement of the Indian army chief about conducting surgical strikes in Pakistan as baseless, he said that India’s such claims were fake. “Let me assure the house and the people of Pakistan that if India ever tried to conduct surgical strikes for real, Pakistan’s armed forces would respond in a matter that India would forget making false claims about strikes [in future],” he said.

The minister informed the house that India had carried out total 330 border violations, 290 along the LoC and 40 along the Working Boundary until December 2016 while 45 civilians were killed 138 injured in these incidents.

“An indigenous freedom movement is under way in Indian-held Kashmir and India has made futile efforts to link this movement with terrorism at different international forums,” he said while giving the reasons of ceasefire violations by India. He said that Pakistan was supporting this movement at diplomatic and international levels.

Secondly, he said, India wants to avoid the process of composite dialogue and its internal circumstances dictate that it was in its interest that tensions along the border should persist, he said.

“It had some political compulsions because phase-wise elections there are around the corner,” he said. The minister further said that keeping in mind all these things, Indian had played the ‘drama’ of fake surgical strikes.

The frequency of violations had declined after December, he said, adding that the violations had been reported to the United Nations Military Observers Group to apprise the UN about these.

The minister said that successes of Pakistan in the war on terror were crystal clear and the international community had recognised this. India was afraid of Pakistan’s successes in this regard.

For the last one-and-a-half-decade, the US and other foreign countries were fighting a war in Afghanistan but they were far from a success and the dangers of a rise in Daesh in the country were looming large, he said. Pakistan has successfully rooted out terrorists and their sanctuaries in North Waziristan, which was a great achievement, the defence minister said.

Asif, who also holds the charge of water and power ministry, said that Pakistan was taking up the violations of Indus Waters Treaty by India at the highest forums including the World Bank level. “I will give details to the house later so that no legal complication would arise,” he said, adding that India had made no water reservoirs as part of the three hydropower projects built on the rivers that fall under the share of Pakistan as per the treaty.

Resolution against Modi

Separately, the house unanimously passed a resolution that condemned the statement of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi attributing terrorism to Pakistan and drawing a parallel between India and Israel and evoking a parallel between Kashmir and Palestine during the BRICS Summit held in Goa, India. PPP Senator Ms Sehar Kamran moved the resolution.

“The House believes that the statement made by the Indian Premier was an effort to divert the attention of the international community from the Indian atrocities against the people of Indian Occupied Kashmir,” the resolution said.

The house reiterated that there would be no compromise on sovereignty and defence of Pakistan, and the country’s resolve to fight against terrorism and contribution towards bringing peace and harmony in the region.

Don’t meddle in Pakistan’s matters: Rabbani

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rights committee was looking into the matter and directed the minister to ask the Islamabad police to appear before it.

Speaking on a motion on the continued Indian violations of the Line of Control (LoC) and the ceasefire along the Working Boundary (WB), Defence Minister Khawaja Asif told the house that Pakistan’s armed forced would fully respond if India ever dared to carry out surgical strikes inside Pakistan. “Our forces have responded to all violations in the past,” he said.

Terming the statement of the Indian army chief about conducting surgical strikes in Pakistan as baseless, he said that India’s such claims were fake. “Let me assure the house and the people of Pakistan that if India ever tried to conduct surgical strikes for real, Pakistan’s armed forces would respond in a matter that India would forget making false claims about strikes [in future],” he said.

The minister informed the house that India had carried out total 330 border violations, 290 along the LoC and 40 along the Working Boundary until December 2016 while 45 civilians were killed 138 injured in these incidents.

“An indigenous freedom movement is under way in Indian-held Kashmir and India has made futile efforts to link this movement with terrorism at different international forums,” he said while giving the reasons of ceasefire violations by India. He said that Pakistan was supporting this movement at diplomatic and international levels.

Secondly, he said, India wants to avoid the process of composite dialogue and its internal circumstances dictate that it was in its interest that tensions along the border should persist, he said.

“It had some political compulsions because phase-wise elections there are around the corner,” he said. The minister further said that keeping in mind all these things, Indian had played the ‘drama’ of fake surgical strikes.

The frequency of violations had declined after December, he said, adding that the violations had been reported to the United Nations Military Observers Group to apprise the UN about these.

The minister said that successes of Pakistan in the war on terror were crystal clear and the international community had recognised this. India was afraid of Pakistan’s successes in this regard.

For the last one-and-a-half-decade, the US and other foreign countries were fighting a war in Afghanistan but they were far from a success and the dangers of a rise in Daesh in the country were looming large, he said. Pakistan has successfully rooted out terrorists and their sanctuaries in North Waziristan, which was a great achievement, the defence minister said.

Asif, who also holds the charge of water and power ministry, said that Pakistan was taking up the violations of Indus Waters Treaty by India at the highest forums including the World Bank level. “I will give details to the house later so that no legal complication would arise,” he said, adding that India had made no water reservoirs as part of the three hydropower projects built on the rivers that fall under the share of Pakistan as per the treaty.

Resolution

against Modi

Separately, the house unanimously passed a resolution that condemned the statement of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi attributing terrorism to Pakistan and drawing a parallel between India and Israel and evoking a parallel between Kashmir and Palestine during the BRICS Summit held in Goa, India. PPP Senator Ms Sehar Kamran moved the resolution.

“The House believes that the statement made by the Indian Premier was an effort to divert the attention of the international community from the Indian atrocities against the people of Indian Occupied Kashmir,” the resolution said.

The house reiterated that there would be no compromise on sovereignty and defence of Pakistan, and the country’s resolve to fight against terrorism and contribution towards bringing peace and harmony in the region.