Staff Reporter
Speaker National Assembly Asad Qaiser has urged the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Parliamentarians to raise the Kashmir issue in respective Parliaments.
He was talking to a delegation comprising of members of the ASEAN Region led by Dato Muhammad Azmi Abdul Hamid, President of Majlis Perundingan Islam, Malaysia (MAPIM), which called on him in Parliament House on Tuesday.
The Members of the Parliaments of Malaysia, Indonesia, Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Thailand, Myanmar and Singapore are currently visiting Pakistan to get insight of the Kashmir issue. The ASEAN Parliamentarians have termed Kashmir dispute, a global issue and have assured to raise the predicament of Kashmiris at international and regional forums till its resolution. They condemned the Indian oppression against innocent Kashmiris depriving them of their human rights and identity.
Speaker Asad Qaiser while apprising the delegation about the present state in Indian Occupied Kashmir said that the Kashmiri people were subjected to worst lockdown in global history depriving them of their fundamental rights. He said that the 93-days long lockdown had turned the valley into a jail, aggravating their miseries in terms of blocking communication and non-supply of food items and medicines.
Further apprising, the Speaker said that thousands of youth had been subjected to abduction, torture and custodial killings besides indiscriminate use of arms on innocent women and children. He asked the Parliamentarians to propagate the Kashmir issue in true perspective in their respective countries and Parliaments for putting diplomatic pressure on India to resolve the issue as per its international commitments and aspiration of people of the valley. Head of the delegation Dato Muhammad Azmi Abdul Hamid said that ASEAN nations strongly support the right of self-determination to Kashmiris which had been constantly been denied by India.
He said that the manner, India was propagating the Kashmir issue was a sheer defiance of its international commitments. He informed the Speaker that an ASEAN Kashmir Advocacy Group was being established for highlighting the Kashmir issue in its true perspective. He condemned the Indian forces for obstructing Kashmiris to perform their religious obligations. Dato Muhammad Azmi Abdul Hamid said that the delegation will visit Azad Jammu and Kashmir and Line of Control to express solidarity with Kashmiri people. He further informed that he along with his other fellow parliamentarians would meet Speakers of ASEAN countries and apprise them about the Kashmir issue.
Earlier A 17-member parliamentary delegation of Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) led by President of Majlis Perundingan Islam Dato Muhammad Azmi Abdul Hamid Malaysia has arrived on a three-day official visit to Pakistan.
The delegation includes members of the parliaments of Malaysia, Indonesia, Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Thailand, Myanmar and Singapore. The delegation during its stay in Pakistan will meet president and prime minister of Pakistan. The delegation will also go to Muzaffarabad and visit Line of Control besides holding a meeting with president and prime minister of Azad Jammu and Kashmir.
The visit of ASEAN parliamentarians to Pakistan will afford an opportunity to create strong awareness about the Kashmir issue in ASEAN countries and to gain support to highlight ongoing atrocities by Indian security forces against innocent Kashmiris at the regional and international forums.
