ISLAMABAD: After facing criticism from the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) and some political circles over the prime minister’s act of ignoring opposition parties in the nomination of parliamentarians as special envoys on the Kashmir cause, the government has now decided to nominate more envoys, giving representation to other parties as well.

A spokesperson for the PM Office said in a statement on Sunday that National Assembly Speaker Sardar Ayaz Sadiq had forwarded more names of parliamentarians from all parties to be included in the list of special envoys nominated for highlighting Indian atrocities against Kashmiri people in important capitals of the world and at the United Nations.

He said that the speaker was previously requested to nominate prominent lawmakers for highlighting the Kashmir cause worldwide.

“It must be noted that the list issued to the media is not exhaustive and the speaker’s office was supposed to be sending more names of parliamentarians, who will be subsequently added to the list,” the spokesman said in a reference to the list of 20 parliamentarians issued by the PM Office on Saturday.

All parties in parliament to get representation

“Since the right of self-determination for the people of India-Occupied Kashmir is a national cause, full representation of all parties in the envoys’ list is essential,” he added.

He said the names of senators were also awaited and they were expected to be received in a couple of days. Once nominations from both houses of parliament were completed, the envoys would be given a briefing at the Foreign Office to enable them to effectively advocate the Kashmir cause, he said.

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Saturday nominated 20 members of parliament — 18 of them from the ruling coalition — as special envoys to important world capitals to lobby for the Kashmir cause.

Interestingly, of the 18 lawmakers from the ruling coalition, seven belong to southern Punjab. Nawab Ali Wassan, a PPP member of the National Assembly, and the PML-Q’s Mushahid Hussain are the only two men from the opposition in the list of the envoys.

The envoys have been assigned the countries they will be required to visit for highlighting the Indian atrocities and lobbying for the Kashmir cause. They will perform their task in 12 cities in nine countries.

PTI vice chairman Shah Mehmood Qureshi had expressed his disappointment over the nominations, saying the list showed the “government’s seriousness” towards the Kashmir cause.

He expressed surprise over his exclusion, saying the rulers could not see a man sitting in parliament who had served as a foreign minister and raised the Kashmir issue at the UN, the Organisation of Islamic Cooper­a­tion and the Arab League.

And on Sunday, PTI information secretary Naeemul Haq criticised the government for what he called using the Kashmir cause for “political bribe” by nominating people from the ruling party for “foreign junkets.”

Published in Dawn, August 29th, 2016