Why Indian submarine let off the hook, asks Senate opposition

ISLAMABAD: Joint opposition in the Senate Tuesday called on the government to take the Parliament into confidence on the Indian submarine’s attempt to enter Pakistani waters and asked who decided that it should be allowed to go away after having been detected.

The PPP Senator Sherry Rehman drew the attention of the House towards the media reports about the Indian submarine’s bid to enter Pakistani waters and was forced to move away; it could have been targeted, but it was not done. She said submarine incident was quite similar to recent Indian jets’ intrusion.

She then referred to Indian PM Narendra Modi’s aggressive speech in a public meeting the other day, wherein he talked about unleashing attacks by forcing his entry into houses. Already, she noted, India had responded to Pakistan’s gesture of returning its pilot safe and sound with the handing over of a mutilated body of a Pakistani prisoner.

Sherry Rehman called for briefing on these issues and said it might be in-camera session.

“We need answers to these questions; is it normal that now an Indian submarine’s incident. Was it for surveillance or launching an attack in the given situation between Pakistan and India and Modi’s continuous threats,” she emphasised.

The opposition staged walkout from the House over the Ministry of Foreign Affairs silence on the issue while the Pakistan Navy issued a statement on the incident, which the opposition senators saw equal to the Indian planes’ violation of Pakistan’s air space.

Rising on his seat, the PML-N Senator Javed Abbasi drew a parallel between the Indian violation of Pakistan’s air space and the Indian sub-marine’s attempt of violation of Pakistani waters.

Senator Abbasi cited Prime Minister Imran Khan’s speech in the joint sitting of the Parliament in which he said they had information about Indian plan of missile attack (on Pakistan) amid reports of Israel and some other country’s involvement in Indian aggression on Pakistan.

“It was a violation and we could have hit the submarine but who decided to spare it. There should be briefing on this matter; may it be in-camera,” he said.

Former interior minister Abdul Rehman Malik, who heads the House Standing Committee on Interior, said it was a matter of Pakistan’s defence and asked should we give courtesy to such enemy again; first they sent jets and now submarine.

“It would have been better to capture the sub-marine. Who decided that the submarine may go away while Indian non-sense and war hysteria continues to rage on. What is our counter-strategy in view of Indian designs and aggressive postures? Despite laying down 70,000 lives in anti-terror war, still we have to project our narrative,” he argued.

The ANP’s Sitara Ayaz said that in the given situation, Israel was also being named and called for taking into account all the factors to avoid any major mess up.