NA Kashmir body seeks extension of powers: Fazl

Special Committee of the National Assembly on Kashmir has written a letter to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to expand the powers of the committee in order to fulfil the expectations of the people related to Kashmir issue. Chairman Special Committee on Kashmir, Maulana Fazlur Rehman while talking to reporters after the meeting said that the committee has formally written a letter to the Prime Minister with suggestions to increase powers of the committee.
Special Advisor to Prime Minister Sartaj Aziz, Federal Minister for Kashmir Affairs and Gilgit-Baltistan Chaudhry Muhammad Barjees Tahir, Foreign Secretary Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhry, members of the committee and other senior officials also attended the meeting.
Maulana Fazlur Rehman said that committee has been holding talks with the government since long in this regard. The role of Kashmir committee is very vast but its powers are limited. "People expect a lot from the committee but it has very small mandate to come up to expectation of the people," he said.
The chairman said that the committee should be given its due status so that foreign policy and strategy related to Kashmir should be formulated in co-ordination with Kashmir Committee and Ministry of Kashmir Affairs. He said that consensus has been developed among Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Kashmir Affairs and Special Committee on Kashmir that a comprehensive system should be developed in order to make polices and strategies with mutual co-ordination. "I will hold meeting with Advisor to Prime Minister on Foreign Affairs and Federal Minister for Kashmir Affairs for developing strategy in this regard," he said.
Rehman said that the committee discussed the programmes proposed for Kashmir Solidarity Day. He said the meeting decided that on Kashmir Solidarity Day (February 5), members of the committee including MNA Ijaz-ul-Haq, Shakir Bashir Awan, Shakila Khalid Luqman Chaudhry and Abdul Waseem will present a memorandum at United Nation Office, Islamabad, to remind the agenda of the United Nations pending for more than six decades as well as to urge the UN to support resolution of Kashmir issue in accordance with the relevant Security Council resolutions to exercise the mandate entrusted to it by Charter of the United Nations.
He said the committee also decided that a human chain will be made on February 5 at Kohala Pul, AJK, to express solidarity with Kashmiris. Members of the committee Chaudhry Muhammad Tufail and Azhar Nahra will participate in the human chain programme. Rehman said that a resolution related to Kashmir issue will be approved in the National Assembly on February 6 in order to express solidarity with Kashmiri brethren.
He said that Sartaj Aziz briefed the committee about the visits of special envoys of Prime Minister sent to different countries. Aziz told the committee that the visits of the special envoys were instrumental in effectively highlighting the grave human rights violations in the Indian occupied Jammu and Kashmir. The visits drew the attention of the international community towards Indian brutalities in Occupied Kashmir in the wake of extrajudicial killing of Burhan Wani on July 8, 2016. He said the committee suggested that the representatives of Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Kashmir Affairs, and Kashmir Council should also be included in entourage of special envoys in order to raise the Kashmir issue in an effective way.