India slams Pak over fresh bid to internationalize Kashmir

Nawaz Sharif appoints 22 MPs as special envoys to rake up Kashmir at global level

New Delhi/Islamabad, August 27: Pakistan's Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif decision to nominate 22 parliamentarians as special envoys to rake up the Kashmir issue at the global level came under criticism from India on Saturday with MoS for External Affairs MJ Akbar asking Pakistan not to internationalise the issue.

Akbar said Pakistan should not internationalise the Kashmir issue, adding that it is a bilateral issue.

Taking a dig at Pakistan, Akbar told ANI, “If a false statement is being repeated 22 times or 22,000 times by 22 people (special envoys), it doesn't becomes true. If Pakistan wants to give free tourism to some MPs, then it is its independent right. Pakistan shouldn't internationalise the Kashmir issue. It is a bilateral issue and it would remain the same.”

Akbar said Pakistan does not want to talk on the Kashmir issue because it knows that its stand is wrong.

“The day it will talk on Kashmir, it will be caught. They have commitments on Kashmir in Tashkhent and Shimla. That's why Pakistan always hesitates from the truth,” he added.

Earlier, Pak media quoted Nawaz Sharif as saying he has nominated 22 parliamentarians as special envoys who will be highlighting the unrest in Kashmir globally.

“We will remind the United Nations its long-held promise of self-determination to the Kashmiri people,” Sharif said.

The move by Sharif came against the backdrop of escalating war of words between India and Pakistan in the aftermath of the continuing unrest in the Kashmir Valley that broke out on July 8 after Hizbul commander Burhan Wani was killed by security forces.

“The Prime Minister urged the special envoys to ensure their efforts for highlighting the Kashmir cause across the world so that he can shake the collective conscience of the international community during his address at the UN this September,” Radio Pakistan reported.

“We will also make it clear to India that it was India that approached the UN several decades back on Kashmir dispute but now it is not fulfilling its promise,” he added.

Sharif said the Kashmir problem is the most persistent failure of the UN and that the world body must establish its relevance.

“I have decided to send these parliamentarians for fighting the Kashmir cause in different parts of the world.

These special envoys have the strength of the people of Pakistan, prayers from the Kashmiri people across the Line of Control, the mandate of the parliament and support from the government,” Sharif said in a statement.

He emphasised that this anniversary of the UN ought to be a catalyst, spurring the world body into action.

“We cannot relent from the Kashmir cause by any stretch of the imagination,” Sharif said. — Agencies