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Islamabad, October 05 (KMS): Speakers at a seminar organized in Islamabad Policy Research Institute (IPRI) on Tuesday eulogised the struggle of Kashmiris and highlighted the mechanisms needed in the digital age to reach out to the world.
With Member of British Parliament, Naz Shah, as guest speaker at the lecture on ‘Fighting the Kashmir Cause: A StratComm Response’ along with Parliamentary Secretary for Law and Justice Maleeka Bokhari, the event focused on the Kashmir issue to be highlighted at international level through effective media campaigns and lobbying.
Naz Shah said the need of the hour is to take Kashmir issue to the centre-stage, and vowed to do her bit in this regard as a legislator in the House of Commons.
The MP from Bradford West said that abrogation of Articles 370 and 35-A was not just a law change, but had an impact on the people struggling for their legitimate rights. She regretted that even today, many in the world did not know the basics of Kashmiris’ struggle, and said that until and unless the social media and other forums were activated on the pattern of coverage of Gaza onslaught, nothing would change for good.
“We need to project the issue in an objective manner, and a strategic shift is needed in explaining the Kashmir cause,” the UK MP stressed. Kashmir as the most militarised zone in the world with a genocide taking place in it is unaddressed, she regretted.
Underscoring the need for a new media strategy, as well as lobbying in real time, Naz Shah observed that the initiative has to come from the grassroots level.
Maleeka Bokhari assured the audience that the government of Pakistan will use all lawful resources to project the cause of Kashmir, and referred to the 131-page dossier that Islamabad had brought to fore on Kashmir. She said rape was being used in Kashmir by the Indian occupational forces as a punishment tool.
Executive Director IPRI Dr Hussain Nadim and Acting President IPRI Brig (retd) Raashid Wali Janjua in their keynote addresses pointed out the efforts that IPRI as a think tank has made to strategize the Kashmir cause in the intellectual and social media realms.
Dr Hussain observed that a proper and more resolute strategy in communications was needed to make the world know the cause of Kashmir in its proper and scientific data-centric perspective.
Brig Wali said the real story of Kashmir was yet to be told, and noted that a renewed effort was needed to rediscover the struggle from human perspective.
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