ISLAMABAD: Former Senator Farhatullah Babar has called for renaming the Kashmir Committee of Parliament as the Kashmir and Palestine Committee to highlight the grave issue of Palestine.

The Committee should also be headed by a senior respectable Parliamentarian known for his knowledge of the issues involved as well as deep commitment to human rights.

He was addressing a seminar in the National Press Club Islamabad organised by Majlis Wahdatul Muslimeen (MWM), on Wednesday.

“Both Kashmir and Palestinian issues are basically human rights issues and should be treated as such. The non-state actors infiltrating from Pakistan into Kashmir did not help the Kashmir cause. Instead it enabled India to question the genuine freedom struggle and label it as cross border terrorism. Unfortunately the world also accepted Modi’s interpretation and that is why no world leader except Pakistan mentioned Kashmir in their addresses to the UN General Assembly,” he said.

Babar said that the Palestine was a case of monumental tragedy and unspeakable betrayal of a people.

He said that half of Palestinian population was forced to live outside their land as refugees, and the other half were living in most deplorable conditions because of Israeli atrocities, he said.

“The Palestinian people also felt hugely betrayed when recently UAE, Bahrain, Sudan and Morocco also recognized Israel without seeking guarantees for their alienable right to their own sovereign and independent homeland.,” he said.

He said that Pakistan should not do anything in the Middle East that would exacerbate the crisis there as it would further undermine the Palestine case.

“Joining the Islamic coalition against Yemen was divisive and should have been avoided,” he said.

He said that now that there were talks of winding down tension in Yemen we should recall the former army chief heading the Riyadh based Islamic coalition forces. The children of Yemen when they grow up will never forgive those perceived to be responsible for their miseries,” he said.

While demanding human rights for the people of Palestine Pakistan should also improve its own human rights record,” he said.

He said that Israel does not permit Palestinians to move freely even within their own territory.

He asked how can we question it when we have also barricaded ex tribal districts despite merger, are fencing borders with Iran and Afghanistan, and now even fencing inside Gwadar city.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2021