State Minister for Interior Dr Shahzad Waseem, in response to a point of order by the nationalist Senator Sanaullah Baloch, said," it is a matter of grave concern that by circulating fake literature, an attempt is on to divide the nation."
The minister, however, fell short of taking any measures to block such literature, available on the website, the name of which was never heard before.
Combined opposition walked out of the House twice: Against the fresh attack on Dera Bugti, and the presiding officer Mohammad Akram allowing State Minister for Environment Malik Amin Aslam to deliver speech on the dams issue. Malik is not a senator, he is Member of the National Assembly.
Ismail Buledi of the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal pointed out the quorum, as only eight treasury members were present at that time minus opposition. But the chair ignored his contention.
The opposition again cautioned of the possible repercussions of the use of force in Balochistan and elsewhere, and for avoiding dialogue path to resolve political issues.
Some pictures, purported to be of some children and elders, who allegedly were killed due to carpet-bombing and deadly gas in Kohlu, were distributed among Senators and media men.
Shehzad Waseem strongly rejected the Leader of Opposition Raza Rabbani and Sanaullah Baloch's contention that an army operation was under way in Balochistan and said the law-enforcement agencies were engaged in dealing with miscreants.
Combined opposition rejected the offer from Leader of the House Wasim Sajjad for a briefing by Wapda experts on the proposed reservoirs with particular reference to Kalabagh Dam. The briefing would be given on Monday afternoon in the Parliament House.
Noisy proceedings gripped the House, as several treasury and opposition Senators simultaneously spoke their hearts out for and against the KBD. The opposition Senators insisted that they could attend the briefing if technical experts from all the four provinces are invited.
Earlier, immediately after the question hour, Senator Sanaullah Baloch waved a copy of pictures of 'some people' and called it a military operation against innocent Baloch people.
He contended that Interior Minister Aftab Sherpao had breached his privilege, when the other day, the minister denied any military operation was under way in Kohlu while it in fact was going on there.
Chairman Mohammadmian Soomro, however, did not agree to the opposition Senator's demand that the matter should be referred to the House privilege committee.
Reacting to Sana's point of order, Shahzad Waseem made it clear that the army was not involved in what was going in Kohlu and maintained that the people of Balochistan were very much patriot citizens of Pakistan.
"If any one wants to draw political mileage out of the law-enforcement agencies' activities, we condemn it," the minister said.
Earlier, Raza Rabbani condemned what he alleged the on-going military action in Balochistan and questioned Sherpao's offer of taking Senators to Kohlu to see for themselves that no such thing was happening there.
"We are looking forward for such visit at a time when Pakistan Human Rights Commission has been denied entry into Kohlu, but there is contrast in the statement and the situation on ground is entirely different," he contended.
Rabbani said that Wana, proposed Kalabagh dam and Kohlu crisis were purely political issues and needed to handled accordingly.
A photo session of all the members available was held before the proceedings, two days before draws are to be held to decide about 50 Senators that would retire on March 11, 2006.
Meanwhile, the House resumed debate on the water reservoirs' issue and both treasury and opposition Senators including M. Akram, Gul Naseeb Shah, Fauzia Fakhar Zaman and Liaquat Ali Bangalzai called for the removal of the smaller provinces' apprehensions. They called for building trust before taking decisions on mega water projects. However, they were unanimous on early start of work on the Bhasha Dam.
The Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal parliamentary leader Gul Naseeb, referred to the US think-tank reports about the 'break-up' of Pakistan by 2010 or 2025 and warned the rulers to stop dividing the nation and fitting into the global powers agenda about the country.
He proposed that since all the four provinces had no objection to Bhasha dam, the construction of the reservoir should be started side by side with debate on Kalabagh Dam to mould public opinion thereon.