Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minster Nawaz Sharif’s move to nominate 22 parliamentarians as special envoys to highlight Kashmir issue met criticism on Sunday when Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leaser Asad Umar and Senator Taj Haider of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) said the government should have included members of opposition parties.

The Kashmir issue can be raised globally in a befitting manner if 10 out of 22 parliamentarians work collectively, they said.

Asad Umar said most of the nominated MPs did not even attend parliamentary debate and questioned how could they highlight the Kashmir cause.

“Premier Nawaz is not ready to discuss Kashmir issue before his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi,” said Umar, adding that the government had nominated 22 MPs as special envoys just to strengthen the ruling PML-N.

Senator Taj Haider said a majority of parliamentarians nominated as special envoys belonged to treasury benches. He expressed apprehension that these designated MPs would not be able to highlight Kashmir issue effectively. He said the government should have included opposition leaders of both houses of the parliament in the group of envoys. It is pertinent to mention here that the government has designated following parliamentarians as envoys on Kashmir issue: Ejazul Haq, Malik Aziz, Khusro Bakhtiar, Alam Dad Lalika, Aysha Raza Farooq, Rana Muhammad Afzal, Raza Hayat, Javed Anwer Chaudhry, Nawab Ali Wassan, Maulana Fazalur Rehman, Major (r) Tahir Iqbal, Afzal Khokhar, Mohsin Shah Nawaz Ranjha, Malik Pervez, Lt Gen (r) Abdul Qayyum, Qaiser Sheikh, Owais Leghari, Abdul Rehman Kanju, Mushahid Hussain Syed and Sardar Mansab Ali.

Mushahid Hussain Syed and Sardar Mansab Ali will also be special envoy in UNO. These parliamentarians would present a report to PM after visiting different countries.