ISLAMABAD: Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Information Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan on Tuesday said the federal government had arranged special programmes for Kashmir Solidarity Day that would be observed on Wednesday (today).

Speaking at a press conference here, Dr Awan said the people of occupied Kashmir could not be deprived of their right to self-determination by India.

She said it was an undisputed narrative of Pakistan that innocent Kashmiris would not be left alone to face atrocities of Indian troops.

“Kashmir is the jugular vein of Pakistan and the nation will show its solidarity with Kashmiris tomorrow,” she said, adding that the world must play its role in stopping atrocities against Kashmiris.

Among various activities planned for the day will be formation of a human chain by parliamentarians, female anchorpersons and women and children of all walks of life outside the Foreign Office on Wednesday at 10.30am to show solidarity with the people of occupied Kashmir.

Dr Awan said a memorandum would also be presented to the UN resident coordinator in Pakistan.

Prime Minister Imran Khan will likely visit Muzaffarabad on Wednesday to express solidarity with Kashmiris.

In a statement, Speaker of the National Assem­bly Asad Qaiser and Deputy Speaker Qasim Khan Suri reaffirmed that Pakistan would continue to provide unflinching moral, diplomatic and political support to the Kashmir cause at various international forums.

“Lockdown and propaganda cannot gag the voice of freedom nor it can alter Pakistan’s resolute and principled stance on the issue of Kashmir,” Mr Qaiser said, adding that repression and tyranny of the Indian government against innocent Kashmiris had put the peace of the world and the region at stake.

The NA speaker slammed the revocation by the Modi government of articles 370 and 35A of the Indian constitution, depriving the people of Kashmir their identity and liberties they enjoyed.

Deputy Speaker Suri said that Pakistan’s parliament was fully committed to peaceful resolution of the Kashmir issue.

President of the Supreme Court Bar Association Syed Qalb-i-Hassan said that the executive committee of the SCBA, being the top bar association of the lawyers’ community of Pakistan, strongly rejected and condemned oppression of the people of Indian occupied Kash­mir by the Indian armed forces and stressed that the world at large should note that Pakistan would not step back an inch from its stated position on the issue.

Published in Dawn, February 5th, 2020