Senate to convene Kashmir session on August 5

ISLAMABAD:

 The Senate will hold a special session on August 5 to condemn India’s illegal move to end the special status of occupied Kashmir, Chairman Sadiq Sanjrani told the house on Wednesday.

 The house will unanimously pass a resolution, which will be sent to all embassies and foreign missions. The house tasked Mushahid Hussain Sayed, the chairman of the house Foreign Affairs Committee with preparing the recommendations for the special session.

 During the session on Wednesday, the opposition parties called the government’s Kashmir policy a failure and demanded an effective strategy on the Kashmir issue. Opposition senator Mushahidullah Khan criticised the government while referring to a Supreme Court decision this week.

 Jamaat-e-Islami chief Senator Siraj-ul-Haq told the house that on August 5 last year, India changed the status of occupied Kashmir and since then 18,000 people were sent to jail, including the entire leadership of the Kashmir people.

 He suggested that August 5 should be observed nationally as the day of condemnation. This, he added, would strengthen the Kashmiris’ struggle for independence. He criticised the government, saying that it had not taken any practical steps in one year.

 Senator Mushahidullah Khan said that Kashmiris were burying their martyrs in Pakistani flags. “Kashmir is bleeding. This is no joke,” he added, asking the Senate chairman to personally look into the matter.

 State Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Ali Muhammad Khan agreed to the proposal of the special session and added that Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi would give a briefing to the house during the session.

 “Inshallah we will hoist the Pakistani flag in Srinagar,” the state minister told the house. “The hand that holds the pen can also hold the sword,” he added. “The picture of Quaid-e-Azam will be put up in the Governor House in Srinagar and the Pakistani flag will be hoisted there.”

 Concurring with the suggestion of Senator Haq, the chairman announced to convene a special session of the Senate on Kashmir on August 5. He said that a unanimous resolution on Kashmir would be passed in the special session which would be sent to all embassies and missions.

 Leader of the Opposition Raja Zafarul Haq said that concrete suggestions should be made regarding the day of August 5. The chairman directed the Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Mushahid Hussain Sayed to prepare proposals.

 Speaking on the occasion, Leader of the House Shehzad Waseem said that no one could make a compromise on the Kashmir. He reminded the opposition that when former prime minister Nawaz Sharif went to India to attend Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s swearing-in ceremony, “we did not say that there was any deal on Kashmir.

 He told the house that Prime Minister Imran Khan spoke about Kashmir, Burhan Wani and Islamophobia at the United Nations. “We all are on the same page on the issue of Kashmir. Don’t say anything that harms the Kashmir cause.”

Child abuse incidents

During the Question Hour, the interior ministry informed the lawmakers that 55 cases of child abuse were registered in Islamabad in the last one and a half years, while 71 suspects involved in sexual abuse had been arrested.

 State Minister Ali Mohammad Khan said 73 accused were nominated in case of raping 52 children between the ages of 6 and 17, adding that 71 of the nominated accused had been arrested, while 36 of them had been sent to jail after indictment.

 The state minister said that those criminals did not show any mercy to the children, adding that the victims included two girls and a boy of 1-5 years of age. He proposed an amendment to the law so that those criminals could be hanged publicly.

 The state minister also informed the house that 2,294 child beggars had been sent to Edhi Homes. Replying to another question, he said that 738 incidents of vehicle theft were registered in Islamabad in the last three years out of which 330 vehicles were recovered and 435 accused had been arrested.