ISLAMABAD - Senate chairman yesterday warned the US to desist from giving anti-Pakistan statements otherwise it would get the response from the Parliament of Pakistan 'in a tit for tat manner'.

The remarks of Chairman Senate Mian Raza Rabbani came shortly after the Advisor to the Prime Minister on Foreign Affairs gave a policy statement in the Senate on the recent statements of US Congressmen and its officials questioning Pakistan's role in the war on terrorism.

"If US keeps on giving such remarks, then US should think that it is also living in a glass house," the chairman Senate said adding that then "they would be bound to question how yesterday's jehadi became terrorists today and how US Senator John McCain and others had been supporting Islamic State (IS).

The chair said that Senate did not want to become a hurdle in the way of good relations between Pakistan and US but the advisor should convey this message of the house to the US. "Pakistan's Parliament will not down line these remarks...It's a two-way traffic. US will have to respect our sovereignty otherwise it will be a tit for tat," said Rabbani.

Earlier, the advisor to the PM, while giving the policy statement in the house, said that Pakistan being a major recipient of US assistance, the US Foreign Relations Committee closely followed developments in Pakistan-US relations. "Views of a few US Congressmen may reflect a shade of opinion in the Congress, but this is not reflective of the actual US policy," he said adding that testimonies by US officials in the hearings of Foreign Relations Committee did reflect US policies but the statements made by non-governmental witnesses only reflected their personal opinions and interests of lobbies they represented.

"While we respect difference of opinion, use of inappropriate language at respected forums like the US Congress only lowers the dignity of the august chamber and that of the speaker's itself," he said. However, the advisor said that recently an amendment to cut the assistance for Pakistan was defeated in the Congress. "This in indicative of the fact that a wide section of the US Congress does not share sentiments of a select few members... May I also pint put that in the day following the latest Congressional Hearing, the State Department publicly recognized that Pakistan has made meaningful progress in eliminating safe heavens and that Pakistan itself paid a huge cost in fighting terrorism," said Sartaj Aziz. He said that Pakistan was intensifying lobbying efforts through diplomatic channels for creating more effective linkages with the next US administration and to neutralize the negative moves of anti-Pakistan lobbies.

At least two lawmakers condemned the appearance of banners in the capital and other parts of the country inviting Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Raheel Sharif to take over the country as well as the statement of PTI chief inviting military coup.

Hafiz Hamdullah of JUI-F said that a general was being made controversial through such tactics. He also condemned the recent statement of Imran Khan that people would distribute sweets if army would take over the country. "What message Imran Khan, who is a leader of popular party, wanted to give to the masses," he questioned. He boycotted the house along with his other party lawmakers for not allowing the chair to speak on the 'spreading of secular sentiments in the country what he said such elements were few out of the millions of the population of Pakistan.

PPP Senator Farhatullah Babar also condemned the recent poster campaign urging military take over and creating an aura of indispensability around the army chief.

It is wrong to attribute the success of operation against militants to any one individual. The entire nation, all political parties, every citizen, all defence forces and law enforcing agencies and indeed all institutions deserved to be complimented for the will to fight the militants to the finish, he said.

Farhatullah Babar said that as an institution the army had large number of competent officers and it would be not right to place any one individual, however, well meaning and competent above the institution itself.

He deplored the statement of PTI chief saying such statements coming from a politician who claimed to believe in democratic processes were shocking and painful.

Leader of the Opposition in the Senate Aitzaz Ahsan condemned the recent killing of  model and social media celebrity Qandeel Baloch and urged the need that the pending law of anti-honour killing, earlier passed by the Senate, should be get passed from the parliament. There is a mindset that people think women of their personal properties and because of the same reason daughters and sisters were being killed and set ablaze, he said. The Chairman Senate said that the moral values in the country had lowered to the point that some people were criticising known humanitarian and philanthropist Abdus Sattar Edhi for bringing up children with unknown parentage.

The house admitted an adjournment motion moved by opposition and treasury lawmakers to discuss the recent wave of aggression by the Indian forces in Occupied Kashmir which resulted into killing and injuries of innocent Kashmiris. The house will discuss the issue tomorrow (July 21). Senator Mushahid Hussain Syed said that Kashmir had become a flash point for the world not because of Pakistan but due to Indian forces that were maiming the Kashmiri youth, both male and female there. He urged the government to highlight the issue at international forums. Senator Sehar Kamran paid tributes to Kashmiri people on the July 19 that is being celebrated as 'Kashmir's Accession Day with Pakistan'.

A draft of the code of Conduct for Members of the Senate as finalized by the house business advisory committee was laid before the house and the chair sought suggestions from the members to improve the draft. The chair said that the draft would become operational from the next session.