ISLAMABAD: The Youth Forum for Kashmir on Thursday hosted a seminar to observe the 69th anniversary of the Indian invasion of Kashmir, in which speakers urged the UN to resolve the Kashmir issue in accordance with the wishes of the Kashmiri people and the Security Council’s resolutions.

Indian forces had occupied Kashmir on October 27, 1947 and the day is observed as a black day.

The seminar titled ‘100 day Curfew: India’s responsibility to Resolve the Kashmir Conflict’ was held at the National Library and also marked the end of the 100 day curfew in Indian held Kashmir.

Speakers at the seminar criticised the role of the parliamentary committee on Kashmir and its chairman, Maulana Fazlur Rehman, saying that though it gets a lot of funds, the committee had not achieved its targets.

Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf MNA Murad Saeed stressed on activating the committee and Pakistani foreign missions in order to show the world the “real face of India”.

“So far, India has killed thousands of innocent Kashmiris, has imposed curfews and paralysed hundreds. However, instead of giving our own narrative, we have been countering the Indian narrative on the issue,” he said, adding that all political parties were on the same page when it came to the Kashmir issue.

He urged Pakistani youth to propagate the Kashmir issue on social media.

“If you can make a chai wala a hero, why not spend some time highlighting the Kashmir cause,” he said.

Participating in the seminar via a video link, Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee MNA Sardar Awais Ahmed Khan Leghari said the government has been pleading the Kashmir case before the world and that it had recently conveyed the human rights violations carried out in Indian occupied Kashmir to the UNHCR.

“The UNHCR had agreed that massive human rights violations were taking place in Indian occupied Kashmir,” he said.

Actor Hamza Ali Abbasi also participated in the seminar via a video link and condemned Indian aggression in Kashmir.

Journalist Fareeha Idrees said the Pakistani media is not giving enough coverage to Kashmir while its Indian counterpart is propagating the Indian narrative more effectively.

“Private media houses only care about ratings and the state-run channel is using pictures, songs and graphics from 20 years ago,” she said, adding that Kashmiris look to the Pakistani media for highlighting their sufferings.

Participants of the seminar were then shown a brief documentary on Burhan Wani and on Indian brutalities in Kashmir.

Other speakers included leader Jammu Kashmir People’s Party Nabila Irshad and Sahibzada Zulfiqar from the Pakistan Peoples Party AJK.

Published in Dawn, October 28th, 2016