Govt efforts have forced UN to notice Kashmir issue

AIOU bags HEC speech competition on Kashmir situation

Efforts by the government to bring international attention to the disputed Himalayan territory of Jammu and Kashmir and the atrocities committed by India there have resulted in the United Nations hold three sessions on the matter while notice has been taken by the British and European parliaments.

This was stated by the Federal Education Minister Shafqat Mehmood on Tuesday while addressing a speech competition organised by the Higher Education Commission (HEC). The competition was held in connection with the Kashmir Solidarity Day. Students from different universities from the Islamabad and Rawalpindi region participated in the event.

Sher Ali Daim from the Allama Iqbal Open University (AIOU) won the competition. Azhar Iqbal from Shaheed Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto Institute of Science and Technology (SZABIST), Islamabad finished as the first runner-up, while Kainat Latif from Fatima Jinnah Women University of Rawalpindi was the second runner-up. The winners were awarded cash prizes worth Rs50,000, Rs30,000 and Rs20,000, respectively.

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Mehmood stressed that India, under the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), has been gripped by a wave of fascism, otherwise known as the Hindutva ideology, and is committing genocide of innocent Muslims.

He reiterated that the government is taking concrete steps to internationalise the issue and it has resultantly received international attention.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 5^th, 2020.