Solidarity: PTI protests Indian aggression in Kashmir

Urges govt to adopt a strong stance on the issue

LAHORE: Scores of workers of the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf staged a demonstration in front of the press club on Sunday to protest Indian aggression in Kashmir and to press the federal government to take a harder stance against atrocities in the region.

The protest was led by PTI Azad Kashmir general secretary Ghulam Mohiuddin Dewan.

The protesters chanted slogans against Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi over his remarks regarding Balochistan and Gilgit-Baltistan. They set alight an effigy of Modi and condemned the Indian government for intensifying violence in Kashmir.

Addressing the protesters, Dewan said that the latest wave of violence in the occupied territory had reinvigorated the independence movement in Kashmir.

He condemned the killing of Burhan Wani, saying violence in Indian-occupied Kashmir had escalated over the last two months.

“The use of pellet guns against Kashmiris is horrific,” he said. “Hundreds of people have been blinded through the use of such weapons.”

Dewan urged the United Nations to take notice of the growing violence in the region and intervene to resolve the crisis in line with its resolutions.

He said that Kashmiris’ right to self-determination should be acknowledged by the international community.

Dewan also criticised the federal government for failing to take an “aggressive stance” on Indian-aggression in Kashmir.

“The government has issued half-hearted condemnations over the violence despite provocative remarks by Modi recently. While the Indian prime minister hinted at human rights violations in Balochistan, Gilgit-Baltistan and Kashmir, the Pakistani government chose to ignore the issue.”

He said the situation demanded that the government do what was best for the country and for Kashmiris who had been struggling for their independence for seven decades. “Rulers should warn India against interfering in internal matters of Pakistan,” he said.

The protesters later offered prayers for those who had lost their lives in Occupied Kashmir.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 22^nd,  2016.