The Pakistan Repatriation Council (PRC) held a symposium called “Issue of Kashmir and the role of Muslim World” at a restaurant here recently to highlight the plight of Kashmiris. Chairman of Jammu Kashmir Community Sardar Mohammad Jawaid Khan said that the Muslim world must unite to address the issue of Kashmir and Palestine since people there are suffering due to occupational forces' suppression of their individual rights and freedom. Khan said that under the UN charter, India must hold a plebiscite in Kashmir for Kashmiris themselves to decide their fate, otherwise the issue will never see resolution. Brave Kashmiris will fight against Indian forces and never give up their basic rights, he said. He urged the committee under Maulana Fazlur Rahman to handle the issue. He also urged the government of President Zardari and Prime Minister Gilani to reactivate the Rabita Trust, which was frozen in October 2001, in order to help repatriate and rehabilitate stranded Pakistanis. PRC Convener Ehsanul Haque thanked all the guests, speakers and poets for taking part in the symposium. He said the Kashmir issue, a major point of conflict between Pakistan and India, has already sparked wars, therefore it is critical that the issue be resolved for peace to reign in the subcontinent that boasts of nuclear capabilities. Mohammad Jamil Rathore, general secretary of Pakistan Journalists' Forum, proposed that the government strongly put the Kashmir issue on the table to India rather than resort to different options, or diplomacy, since these have not worked for the past 65 years. Vice President of Urdu Markaz Gulab Khan praised PRC's role in highlighting the cause of Kashmir and stranded Pakistanis. He said solving the Kashmir issue is vital not only for Pakistan but for the whole Ummah, since a strong Pakistan could play a strong role in peace in the subcontinent and the rest of the world. He said that other options could be explored should negotiations with India fail. Agha Akram of the Pakistan People's Community said that the issue of Kashmir is part of every government's agenda but no concrete measures have ever been put into effect. He said he hopes the chairman of the Kashmir Committee could update it. Community leader Mohammad Ashfaque Badaouni said that the Pakistani people failed to convince not only the Muslim world but also the world at large about their stance toward and reason for the Kashmir cause, hence India is taking advantage of it. Riaz Ghumman Choudhry, another community leader, expressed hope that hundreds of thousands of Kashmiris' sacrifices will soon bear fruit and they shall be soon free from Indian domination. Hamid Islam Khan, Shamsuddin Altaf, Saraiki Committee Chairman and Engr. Rasheed Chishti and Syed Shehabuddin also stressed on the Ummah's critical role in solving the Kashmir issue. Poets Syed Mohsin Alavi, Abdul Qayyum Waseq and Zamurrad Khan Saifi recited poems as a tribute to what they called “Kashmiri martyrs.”
