Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: Opposition lawmakers in the National Assembly on Monday asked the government to wake up to the brutalities of the Indian forces in occupied Kashmir and stop trade diplomacy with India.

The House passed a unanimous resolution against the use of brutal force by the Indian security forces against the innocent and unarmed people of Jammu and Kashmir. It urged the world to take notice of human rights violations and play its role in implementation of UN resolutions on Kashmir.

Criticising the government, the opposition legislators asked Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to take the Kashmir issue seriously and take it up at international forums effectively. Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) lawmaker Imran Zafar Laghari was of the view that Kashmir was a matter of life and death for Pakistan because all rivers in Pakistan originated from Kashmir. He asked the prime minister to come forward and take a stand on Indian brutalities in Kashmir at the diplomatic level. “The entire parliament is with you (the prime minister), but first strengthen the parliament,” he said. He regretted that the prime minister did not not come to the parliament; therefore, he could not strengthen the parliament. Commenting on ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz’s victory in the Azad Kashmir general elections of July 21, he said the government should now take up the Kashmir issue effectively. He said the government established a special committee on Kashmir, but it did not give it any powers.

The PPP legislator said the prime minister had his own agenda of trade diplomacy with India that was why the Kashmir issue could not be raised properly. Stop taking dictation from others on Kashmir and let the House make foreign policy of Pakistan, he asked the prime minister.

Adviser to Prime Minister on Foreing Affairs Sartaj Aziz rejected the view that the government did not take measures to highlight the violations of human rights in Indian-held Kashmir. The House extended complete support to Kashmiris for their just struggle for the right to self-determination. The support was extended by the members of the House during a discussion on an adjournment motion on the recent situation in occupied Kashmir. The motion moved by Minister for Kashmir Affairs Chaudhry Barjees Tahir was unanimously adopted.

The resolution said that Pakistan would continue to extend moral, diplomatic and political support to Kashmiris till achievement of their goals in line with the resolutions of the UN Security Council. They said that all political parties of Pakistan were on the same page on the Kashmir issue.

Winding up the discussion, Aziz said that efforts to highlight the Kashmir issue at the international level would be expedited at political and diplomatic level. He said that Pakistan expressed complete solidarity with the Kashmiris in their struggle for the right to self-determination. He said the sacrifices rendered by the Kashmiris would not go waste and a day would dawn soon when they would achieve their goal.

The adviser said the government highlighted the recent brutalities in occupied Kashmir at all international forums. After the incident of July 8, a special cabinet meeting was held to evolve a strategy. He said that a black day was observed all over the country to express solidarity with the Kashmiris on July 20. He said the issue was taken up with ambassadors and high commissioners of major countries. He said the government had planned to write letters to the heads of various agencies of the UN Security Council. He said that Pakistan had asked all world and regional bodies to send fact-finding missions to held Kashmir to know the truth.

Giving details of the Indian brutalities, the adviser said that 60 Kashmiri were martyred and 6,000 injured, most of them critically, in the recent attacks by the Indian forces on Kashmmiris. He said that curfew had been imposed in the Indian occupied region for the last three weeks. He said that a prolonged curfew resulted in shortage of food and medicines in the region.

Speaking on the occasion, Minister for Kashmir Affairs BarjeesTahir called upon the United Nations to fulfill its responsibilities and implement its resolutions on Kashmir. Durable peace in South Asia is possible only after the Kashmir issue is resolved, he said. He urged the world to play its role to resolve the issue.

Earlier, taking part in the discussion, JUI-F chief Maulana Fazl-ur-Rehman said that Pakistan would continue to raise the Kashmir issue at all international forums. Dr Shireen Mazari of the PTI rejected India’s stance that Kashmir was its internal matter. She said that India went to the United Nations under Chapter 6, which dealt with resolution of disputes between two member countries. She said this showed that India had admitted that Kashmir was a dispute between two countries, Pakistan and India. Several other legislators took part in the discussion.

The House passed another resolution, paying tribute to renowned social worker Abdul Sattar Edhi. The House passed another resolution paying tribute to renowned Qawwal Amjad Sabri. In another resolution, the House expressed complete solidarity with the brave people of occupied Kashmir and strongly condemned the Indian brutalities against Kashmiris. The resolution moved by Minister for Law Zahid Hamid called upon India to repeal all black laws enforced in the disputed region.

Later, the House passed a unanimous resolution paying tribute to the people of Turkey for thwarting the military coup in their country. The House adopted a motion to add new rules after Rule 202 of the National Assembly Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business, giving effect to representation of the Senate and the finance minister in the Public Accounts Committee.

The House offered Fateha for Edhi, innocent people of Kashmir who were brutally killed by Indian security forces in the occupied valley and former MNAs Anwar Ali Cheema, Arbab Zahir Khan and Sardar Tufail.

The House offered Fateha for the departed souls of personnel of the army and the Rangers and victims of monsoon rains in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Punjab and FATA.

The House would now meet today (Tuesday) at 10:30 am.