ISLAMABAD, Aug 3 (APP):Speakers at a webinar called for greater mobilization of Pakistani and Kashmiri diaspora to highlight Indian atrocities being committed in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK). The event was organized in Jeddah by Pakistan’s Permanent Mission to the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) titled “Role of diaspora in seeking peaceful settlement of Jammu and Kashmir dispute.”
President Azad Jammu and Kashmir Sardar Masood, members of the British Parliament Lord Nazir Ahmed and Khalid Mahmood, prominent Kashmiris including Dr Ghulam Nabi Fai (USA), Dr Ghulam Nabi Mir (USA), Barrister Abdul Majid Tramboo (Belgium), Professor Nazir Ahmed Shawl (UK) and Masood Ahmed Puri (Saudi Arabia) addressed the webinar.
In his keynote address, President AJK Sardar Masood Khan presented a six-point programme for effectively raising the Kashmir issue at international level, according to a press release received here from Pakistan’s Permanent Mission to OIC, Jeddah.
The programme encompasses leveraging the strengths of Kashmiri diaspora, developing coalitions among various diaspora organizations, effective communication with international community including international media, prominent think tanks and important politicians; focusing on internationalizing the Kashmir issue and making efforts to strengthen Pakistan and Azad Kashmir, economically and politically and also engagement with local communities – parliamentarians, government officials, media personalities and other notables.
In his welcome remarks, Ambassador Rizwan Saeed Sheikh said the OIC could help generate a critical mass of support for raising the Jammu and Kashmir dispute at other international fora.
He stated that the Kashmiri diaspora could play an important role in raising awareness about the Jammu and Kashmir dispute at the international level and projecting a unified stance with legal and historical accuracy.
Ambassador Sheikh also highlighted a number of similarities between the Palestine and Kashmir issues, with a special focus on a common genesis premised on the right to self-determination enshrined in the relevant UN Security Council resolutions.
The webinar was convened in connection with the forthcoming exploitation day marking the first anniversary of India’s illegal and unilateral actions of August 5, 2019.
