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| Pak move on Kashmir resolution scuttled | | | Agencies
Islamabad, Feb 01: The Pakistan government has scuttled a move by some ruling and Opposition parliamentarians to introduce a resolution in the National Assembly asking US President Barack Obama to appoint an envoy on Kashmir.
The resolution was sought to be introduced by PML-Q parliamentarian Marvi Memon, who is known for her virulent anti-India views and fierce criticism of New Delhi's policies on all issues. It also had the backing of parliamentarians from the ruling Pakistan People's Party, Opposition PML-Q and PML-N, Awami National Party and Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam.
The resolution, which sought to ask Obama to appoint an envoy on Kashmir or to include the settlement of the Kashmir dispute in the mandate of the US envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan, was scuttled by the Foreign Office and a federal minister, the Dawn newspaper reported today.
A top official of the Foreign Office blocked the move by setting aside a proposed joint resolution approved by members from the treasury and Opposition benches. The official also came out with another version of the proposed resolution that excluded the call for appointing a US envoy on Kashmir.
The draft notice for the proposed resolution read: "This House resolves to ask President Obama to send a US envoy on Kashmir or to include Kashmir's resolution in the mandate of the US envoy on Afghanistan and Pakistan."
Sections of the Pakistani political leadership, including some senior members of the PPP, are upset that the Obama administration did not include the Kashmir issue in the mandate of Richard Holbrooke when he was named the special envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan.
The Muttahida Qaumi Movement, which is now part of the central government, had reservations about the draft and backed a different version, which read: "This House underscores the importance of the peaceful and just resolution of the Jammu and Kashmir dispute.”
"And in this context expresses the confidence that the new US administration will, as stated by President Obama, give priority attention to this issue," the different version said, adding that the US special representative should have "an important role for the resolution of the Jammu and Kashmir issue included in his mandate".
Parliamentarian Memon said PPP leader and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Babar Awan proposed consultations with the Foreign Office before moving the resolution in the National Assembly. A top bureaucrat of the Foreign Office blocked the resolution on technical grounds and proposed a different version.
The version proposed by the Foreign Office said: "This House underscores the importance of peaceful and just resolution of the Jammu and Kashmir dispute. We expect the international community to play its due role in the early resolution of this longstanding dispute. And in this context expresses confidence that the new US administration will, as stated by President Obama, give priority to this issue."
Memon also said she was informed that no other resolution is acceptable to the government.
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