Pak appoints 22 special envoys to raise Kashmir issue

In yet another attempt to interfere in India's internal matters, Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has nominated 22 parliamentarians as special envoys to highlight the Kashmir issue. "I have decided to send these parliamentarians for fighting the Kashmir cause in different parts of the world. These special envoys have strength of the people of Pakistan, prayers from the Kashmiri people across the Line of Control, mandate of the Parliament and support from the government", Pakistani news outlets reported the country's Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif as saying. "I am standing behind these special envoys to ensure their toil for highlighting the Kashmir Cause resonates across the world so that I can shake the collective conscience of the international community during my address at the UN this September", he added.

India has taken an aggressive line against Pakistan in recent weeks, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi telling Islamabad that he would be forced to raise international attention to human rights abuses in Pakistan's restive Balochistan province if Islamabad continued to incite violence and terrorism in Kashmir. Earlier, India had warned Pakistan over its "deplorable meddling" and asked it to "vacate its illegal occupation of Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir". After Pakistan observed a 'Black Day' on July 20, following the killing of Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani in an encounter with Indian security forces, India said that it strongly condemned the "encouragement and support" which "terrorists and their activities receive from Pakistan's state".