LAHORE - A former ambassador of Pakistan to the United States has suggested a multi-pronged strategy for the government to draw world attention to the atrocities being committed by India in Occupied Kashmir and to get the Kashmiri people their right to self-determination.

Begum Abida Hussain said in an interview to The Nation yesterday that the government should raise the Kashmir dispute with the United Nations, the OIC and the Commonwealth states.

In her opinion the decision to send parliamentary delegations to more than 20 countries, as decided recently at a cabinet meeting, would not bring any useful results. The proposed delegations would be an exercise in futility and the government should review the decision, said the firebrand leader from Jhang who served ambassador to the US and as a federal minister during the two previous tenures of the PML-N.

The spouse of former NA speaker Syed Fakhr Imam said Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in his speech to the United Nations should not raise any other issue except the Kashmir dispute. Also, she said, Mr Sharif should hold a meeting with the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and brief him on the human rights violations in Occupied Kashmir.

She said despite UN resolutions the Kashmiris could not get their right to self-determination because of the Cold War between the United States and the former Soviet Union. But now that the cold war was over there was no justification for the world body to deny this right to the Kashmiri people. She said the UN should honour its commitment to the Kashmiris.

The freedom movement in Occupied Kashmir has been going on for about three decades and India is using all its resources to crush it. All APHC leaders recently refused to meet the Indian leaders or hold talks with them to work out any solution of the situation. They have declared in categorical terms that they want independence from India and would offer any sacrifice for the purpose.

India used pellet guns to silence the ongoing freedom movement. A large number of protesters targeted by these guns have lost eyesight.

Pellets are loaded with lead and once fired they penetrate the skin’s soft tissues, and eye being the delicate structure is the most vulnerable to damage. Once the pellet goes inside an eye it shatters tissues and causes multiple damages to all parts of the eye.

After being condemned for maiming the innocent people of Occupied Kashmir through these pellet guns, India has now decided that its security forces will use shells full of a chilli compound to control crowds. The chilli compound, when fired, is thought to cause severe irritation and temporarily immobilise the target.

Begum Abida said Pakistan should also make fresh contacts with the Islamic countries and seek their cooperation for the rights of the Kashmiri people. Pakistan, she said, was an important member of the Islamic world and all Islamic countries should throw their weight behind Pakistan in its struggle for the rights of the oppressed people of Occupied Kashmir.

She said with all Islamic states supporting the self-determination right of the Kashmiri people, India would not be able to resist the demand.

The former ambassador said that Commonwealth was another forum Pakistan should try to use for the rights of the Kashmiri people.