By IANS,
Islamabad : Pakistani senators have urged a review of the country’s role in the war on terror and even suggested the redeployment of troops from the Afghanistan border in the light of heightened tensions with India.
“Taking part in the discussion (Tuesday) on the security situation, they underlined the need for launching a diplomatic initiative to tell the world that Pakistan was a responsible country and expose ‘baseless allegations’ being hurled by India in the aftermath of the Mumbai carnage,” Dawn reported Wednesday.
“They rejected as a cock and bull story the claim by India that a group of 10 people had travelled on a boat from Karachi to reach Mumbai for carrying out the attack,” the newspaper added.
“How was it possible for a group of 10 to split and engage the entire security apparatus of a country for three days,” more than one senator wondered.
They also questioned the manner in which the UN adopted a resolution against the Jamaat-ud-Dawa, saying this had been done at India’s behest.
“They referred to some reports which claimed that China wanted to block the UN resolution, but it was allegedly persuaded by President Asif Ali Zardari not to do so.
“The senators asked the government to explain its position,” Dawn said.
Leader of Opposition in the Senate Kamil Ali Agha expressed concern over the absence of Pakistan’s permanent representative to the UN when the resolution was adopted by the Security Council.
“He termed the arrival of an Interpol team to Pakistan (as) alarming and said the purpose of the visit was to implicate Pakistan in the Mumbai terrorist attacks. He said the US wanted to engage Pakistan on its eastern border to achieve its objectives,” Dawn reported.
Agha also claimed that “new maps without Pakistan were being printed and urged the government to act wisely to protect sovereignty and integrity of the country”, Dawn said.