Kashmir dispute: Lawyers to protest every day

LHCBA announces movement for liberation of Kashmiris

LAHORE: The Lahore High Court Bar Association (LHCBA) has announced it would initiate a movement for the liberation of Kashmir and would protest at GPO Chowk in the city every day except Sunday.

The decision was made at a news conference held on Monday when Kashmir committee of LHCBA resolved to mobilise the public — including traders, labour unions, doctors, professors and students — so that they participate in rallies against India.

LHCBA President Rana Zia Abdul Rehman said they would mobilise lawyers of the country by organising conventions for them.

He added the people of Kashmir have been giving sacrifices since many decades, but now atrocities against them have reached their peak. He maintained the people who are being shot on the face and being left injured are not even being let to go to hospitals.

Moreover, he added, there was a curfew in Kashmir since the last two months because of which people cannot even buy edibles to survive.

The association’s president announced the formation of a committee on Kashmir issue, which would comprise 12 members of the bar. He said the committee would devise different programmes so that the bar can play an effective role in the liberation of Kashmir. LHCBA Secretary Muhammad Anas Ghazi said the government should do more to solve the Kashmir issue.

Advocate Khawaja Mahmood, the Kashmir committee chairperson, said they demanded the government direct all consulates of Pakistan in the world to play their role in lobbying against India over the Kashmir issue. He said the committee would try to bring intellectuals from different segments of society on its platform.

He added Kashmir issue was part of the incomplete agenda of division of the subcontinent hence the government in UK should play its role in providing the right of self-determination to Kashmiris. He said the government of Pakistan should mobilise Pakistanis residing in the UK to initiate a movement to convince the government there on the point.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 27^th, 2016.