Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi has announced a vigorous campaign to effectively highlight the Kashmir cause on both domestic and international fronts, as well as counter Indian propaganda about the held valley, which was stripped of its autonomous status on August 5 last year.
“This campaign would start from January 25 and continue till February 5 [Kashmir Day],” Qureshi told a press conference in Islamabad on Thursday. He was flanked by prime minister’s aide on information Firdous Ashiq Awan and communications minister Murad Saeed.
The Kashmir issue, Qureshi said, had never been raised as effectively as it was done after the unilateral change in IOK’s special status. “As part of the campaign the plight of Kashmiris would be highlighted in all forms of media including print, electronic and digital on January 25.”
The foreign minister said Prime Minister Imran Khan will address the AJK legislative assembly in Muzaffarabad on February 5. “On the same day the premier will also address a public gathering in Mirpur to express solidarity with the Kashmiris,” he said.
As part of the initiative, he added, a Kashmir Day event would be held at the President House in Islamabad where “entire diplomatic corps would be invited and documentaries on the Kashmir struggle would be screened to apprise them of the plight of Kashmiris”.
Explaining the objective of campaign, Qureshi said New Delhi and its media was trying to portray that the situation in IOK had been normalised which was not true. “The President and Prime Minister of AJK would write letters to different heads of states, requesting them to push India to lift the curfew and communication blackout in IOK,” he added.
The foreign minister said photo exhibitions would be organised in major art galleries across the country to display the “struggle and sufferings of Kashmiris”.
Like every year, Qureshi added, a human chain would be formed in AJK to give a message to Kashmiris that “their Pakistani brethren are standing by them in the hour of need”.
Besides, he said, Kashmir solidarity rallies would also be taken out in all provinces, and requested the provincial chief ministers to lead the rallies.
UNSC briefings on IOK
Discussing UN Security Council meetings on the Kashmir dispute, Qureshi said all 15 member states attended the session, and held discussions earlier this month. “Despite several Indian attempts to block the move at UNSC, Pakistan successfully raised the issue with the help of China,” he said.
Qureshi said UN agencies including UNMOGIP endorsed Pakistan’s claims on India’s ceasefire violations across the Line of Control (LoC).
He said UN officials appreciated Islamabad for giving them access to Azad Kashmir whereas “they were denied permission to visit the held valley”.
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