Pak opposition assails appointment of Kashmir envoys 

From Sajjad Hussain Islamabad, Aug 29 (PTI) The 22 Pakistani lawmakersnominated by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to highlight Kashmirissue have no credentials as most of them have poor attendancein parliament, the opposition parties said today. On Saturday, Sharif had appointed 22 lawmakers as envoys,most of them from the treasury benches, who would visit keyworld capitals to highlight alleged Indian atrocities inKashmir. Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Asad Umar andSenator Taj Haider of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) saidthe government should have included members of oppositionparties. They said the Kashmir issue can be raised globally in abefitting manner only if the government works along with theopposition parties. Asad said most of the nominated MPs did not even attendparliamentary debates and questioned how they could highlightthe Kashmir cause. "Premier Nawaz is not ready to discuss Kashmir issuebefore his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi," said Umar,adding that the government had nominated 22 MPs as specialenvoys just to strengthen the ruling PML-N. Senator Taj Haider said majority of parliamentariansnominated as special envoys belonged to treasury benches andexpressed apprehension that these designated MPs would not beable to highlight Kashmir issue effectively. He said the government should have included oppositionleaders of both houses of the parliament in the group ofenvoys. The move by Sharif came against the backdrop ofescalating war of words between India and Pakistan in theaftermath of the continuing unrest in the Kashmir Valley thatbroke out on July 8 after Hizbul commander Burhan Wani waskilled by Indian security forces. PTI SH SUA AKJSUA