Saudi Gazette JEDDAH — A symposium titled "Kashmir an obligation of Muslim World" here has called for a plebiscite in Kashmir enabling the people of the state determine their future. The seminar, organized by Pakistan Repatriation Council (PRC), was presided over by Dr. Ali Al-Ghamdi, former Saudi diplomat. Khalid Rasheed, President Pak-Saudi Friendship was the chief guest. Other guests included Engineers Syed Naseeruddin, Syed Wasi Imam, Syed Ghazanfar Hassan, Syed Aslam Tanweer, Mohammad Umar of Engineers Welfare Forum (EWF) and Dr. Saad Hashmi. In his presidential address, Dr. Al-Ghamdi described Kashmir as the world's oldest issue. Kashmir and the Palestine issues are where the United Nations has failed completely. According to the two-nation theory, Kashmir should have been part of Pakistan, he said. "It is the need of the hour to unite the Muslim Ummah and to take lead in solving issues of Kashmir, Palestine, Syria, stranded Pakistanis, Burmese Muslims and other issues. He also urged Pakistan's Prime Minister Imran Khan to fulfill his promise to repatriate and rehabilitate patriotic Pakistanis languishing in Bangladesh for over 48 years. Chief guest Khalid Rasheed thanked the PRC for organizing the symposium on Kashmir. He said we must continue our efforts and soon Kashmiris will get their rights. He urged UNO to fulfill its resolution for plebiscite in Kashmir. Tasawar Choudhry, Shahid Nayeem, Noor-ul-Hassan, Eng. Syed Neaz Ahmed, Shamsuddin Altaf, Mohammad Amanatullah and Bashir Sawati also addressed and thanked the PRC for organizing the symposium. At the end, convener Syed Ehsanul Haque thanked Dr. Ghamdi and other guests for making the symposium successful. He preoposed following resolutions which were approved unanimously: • Pakistan government should use the good offices of OIC, UN, China, the US and super powers to influence India to ensure plebiscite in Kashmir, according to UN resolution of 1948. Pakistan uses all pressure on India to remove 900,000 forces from Kashmir and hand over power to genuine leadership as a pre-requisite for the plebiscite. • Prime Minister Imran Khan is urged to take urgent measures to restart the repatriation and rehabilitation of stranded Pakistanis. To overcome the paucity of funds, we suggest to implement the PRC proposal of "settlement of stranded Pakistanis on self-finance basis." Bangladesh should also play its role in solving the issue. • Pakistani High Commissioner at Dhaka should be assigned to take care of food, health, life and security of a quarter million Pakistanis stranded in Bangladesh. OIC should include in its agenda the issue of stranded Pakistanis. Earlier, the event began with the recitation of a few verses of the Holy Qur'an by Qari Mohammed Asif and a naat (glorifying Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) was presented by Khaled Jawed. Zamurrad Khan Saifi presented a poem on Kashmir. Syed Mussarat Khalil conducted the proceedings.
