Pakistan

Politico-religious parties ask govt to call an APC

Say Pakistan must force international community to resolve the long-standing Kashmir issue

Obaid Abbasi July 30, 2016

All is not well in Kashmir, and even if it was there is no way to communicate that. PHOTO: REUTERS

ISLAMABAD: Top politico-religious parties have demanded that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif call an all parties conference (APC) before the joint session of parliament to finalise a comprehensive and permanent Kashmir policy in view of the rising Indian aggression in the Indian Occupied Kashmir (IOK).

“The prime minister should call an APC before the joint session of parliament, which is scheduled on August 1 so a comprehensive Kashmir policy could be finalised,” said a declaration, passed on Friday during an APC called by Jamaat-e-Islami chief Sirajul Haq.

Leaders of all religious and political parties, including the ruling PML-N, attended the moot, which also ensured the JI’s July 31 march from Lahore’s Nasir Bagh area to Pakistan-India border at Wagah against the ‘increasing Indian aggression’ in the IOK.

“There is a dire need that Pakistan should remain active politically, legally and diplomatically on international level so the international community could be forced to resolve the issue,” the resolution added.

The participants also said that unless the Indian government shows its willingness to resolve the issue Pakistan should not start talks with India nor do business with the rival nation.

Speaking on the occasion, JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman – who is also head of a Special Committee on Kashmir Affairs – said, “There is dire need of time to speed up lobbying internationally over Kashmir issue because the international community has failed to play its role.”

The PML-N leader Raja Zafarul Haq appreciated the JI for organising the APC over the Kashmir issue and assured that the government will take practical steps to organise the APC before the joint session of parliament so that a strong message could be given across the world over the Indian aggression.

The conference was also attended by Jamaatud Dawa chief Hafiz Saeed, Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamaat chief Ahmed Ludhianvi, PML-Q chief Chaudhry Shujaat, AML chief Sheikh Rashid, former chief justice Iftikhar Chaudhry, PML-Z chief Ijaz-ul-Haq, veteran politician Javed Hashmi and Kashmiri leaders.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 30^th, 2016.