LAHORE                    -                Punjab Governor Ch Mohammad Sarwar has welcomed European Parliament members’ decision to move six resolutions on Indian held Kashmir and the anti-Muslim Citizenship Act.

These resolutions will be taken up for discussion and voting in the EU Parliament this week. 

 “As many as 626 members of European Parliament have moved six resolutions on Indian atrocities in Kashmir and the controversial legislation targeting the Muslims. It is a big diplomatic success for Pakistan”, Ch Sarwar remarked while talking to a select group of journalists at the Governor House.

He further stated that the world was now standing with Pakistan despite trade interests of many countries in India. Ch Sarwar said Prime Minister Imran Khan has effectively been highlighting Kashmir issue as “Ambassador of Kashmiris”. “I am advancing PM’s Kashmir mission in the entire world”, he said. 

Governor urged world community to play its role in settlement of Kashmir issue and also take strict notice of Indian government’s atrocities against the Indian Muslims.

Also, Punjab Governor has written a letter to 751 members of European Parliament including its Vice President highlighting Indian atrocities against Kashmiris and the controversial Citizenship Act against the Muslims.

 Citing the violations of seven conventions of United Nations and other international organizations by India, Ch Sarwar in his letter has demanded of the European Parliament to approve the ant-India resolutions when they are taken up for voting on January 30, 2020.

 Sarwar noted that despite war hysteria by India, Pakistan under the leadership of Prime Minister Imran Khan was advocating for peace in the region. 

The letter addressed to European Parliament’s Vice President Fabio Massimo Castaldo and other members of the parliament exhorts the EU member states to support resolutions for repealing the Citizenship (Amendment) Act-2019 (CAA) of India and lifting of curfew in the occupied Kashmir and play role to implement the UN resolutions on Kashmir.

 It further said, “It is high time for the international community to check Indian government’s gross violations of human rights & draconian laws.  Since May 2019, PM Narendra Modi’s start of second term, India first stripped Kashmir of its autonomy, deployed additional troops to the region, cut off internet/phones, placed thousands of people in preventive detention and secondly reinforced its nationalistic orientation by introducing the CAA on Dec 11 2019 which could trigger the largest statelessness crisis in the world and cause widespread human suffering.”

Punjab Governor added that CAA was explicitly discriminatory in nature as it specifically excludes Muslims from having access to the same provisions as other religious groups. 

The governor wrote that Indian government’s justification for “fast track citizenship” aimed at preventing persecution of minorities.  “However, the world’s most persecuted minorities such as Sri Lankan Tamils, Rohingya Muslims from Myanmar, Bihari Muslims in Bangladesh and Buddhist refugees from Tibet do not fall under CAA’s purview. Under CAA, India is prosecuting national & religious minorities and silencing opposition, human rights groups and journalists critical of the government”, the letter further reads. 

The governor has also thanked members of the European Union for condemning India’s disregard of its International obligations & Human Rights treaties to which New Delhi is a signatory. “Lastly I would highlight that Pakistan’s priority is regional peace.  Prime Minister Imran Khan is open to dialogue & negotiations as we realize the enormous human, economic and political benefits of resolving the Kashmir conflict &the importance of stability in the region as both Pakistan and India are nuclear weapon states,” he concluded.