ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Saturday nominated 22 parliamentarians as special envoys to apprise the world about the brutalities and human rights abuses committed by Indian forces in held Kashmir.
“I have decided to send these parliamentarians to fight the case of Kashmir in different parts of the world," a statement issued by PM's office quoted Nawaz as saying.
It further said that these special envoys will have strength of Pakistani people, prayers from the Kashmiri people across the Line of Control, mandate of the parliament and support from the government.
“I am standing behind these special envoys to ensure their toil for highlighting the Kashmir cause resonates across the world so that I can shake the collective conscience of the international community during my address at United Nations this September,” Nawaz said.
He said Pakistan would remind the United Nations of its long-held promise of "right of self-determination for the Kashmiri people" and would make it clear to India that it was them that had approached the United Nations several decades back on Kashmir dispute but are not fulfilling its promise.
“Generation after generation of Kashmiris have seen only broken pledges and ruthless oppression,” the prime minister added.
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He emphasised that this anniversary of the UN ought to be a catalyst, spurring the body into action.
“The Kashmir dispute is the most persistent failure of the United Nations; the UN must establish its relevance. We cannot relent from the Kashmir cause by any stretch of imagination,” Nawaz reiterated.
The parliamentarians who have been nominated to lobby for the Kashmir cause in various countries include Ijazul Haq and Malik Uzair for Belgium, Khusro Bakhtiar and Alamdad Laleka for China, Raza Hayat Hiraj, Junaid Anwar Chaudhry and Nawab Ali Wassan for the Russian Federation.
The prime minister nominated Maulana Fazlur Rehman, Major (retd) Tahir Iqbal and Muhammad Afzal Khokhar for Saudi Arabia, Mohsin Shahnawaz Ranjha and Malik Pervaiz for Turkey, Lt General (retd) Abdul Qayyum and Qaiser Sheikh for the United Kingdom.
Mushahid Hussain Syed and Shazra Mansab Ali Khan would highlight the Kashmir cause in the United States and the United Nations, Ayesha Raza Farooq and Rana Muhammad Afzal in France, Awais Leghari in the United Nations (Geneva) and Abdul Rehman Kanju in South Africa.
