Pak Ministry to set up Kashmir media cell

Islamabad, Aug 27 (IANS) Pakistan's Information and Broadcasting Ministry will set up a Kashmir media cell, a government official said.

Speaking to reporters on Monday, Firdous Ashiq Awan, the Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Information, said the Ministry had taken technical support from the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf's (PTI) media cell earlier too, Dawn news reported.

"The social media cell of the PTI has cooperated with the government in establishing the official social media cell under the Information Ministry," she said.

Awan said that the aim of setting up of the Kashmir media cell was to collect and disseminate authentic information about "ground realities in Kashmir".

"We do not have free flow of information from Kashmir... Therefore, it is essential for the government to collect all available information at the Kashmir media cell in the Information Ministry and provide it to the Foreign Office, local media as well the members of civil society," she said.

She said Prime Minister Imran Khan had successfully made Kashmir an international issue, but it was the responsibility of relevant government departments to carry it forward, reports Dawn news.

Earlier this month, Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi had announced the setting up of a special cell on Kashmir at the Foreign Office and a desk at all embassies.

Tensions have escalated between India and Pakistan ever since New Delhi on August 5 revoked Article 370 of its Constitution that gave special status to Jammu and Kashmir and divided it into two Union Territories -- Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh.