Tribute: AJK observes birthday of Maqbool Butt

MIRPUR: Glowing tributes were paid to the late leader of the Kashmir Freedom Movement, Muhammad Maqbool Butt, at a ceremony held on Saturday to observe his 74th birthday. Participants renewed the pledge to continue the mission of the departed Kashmiri leader until the achievement of the Kashimiris right to self determination. The Jammu & Kashmir National Liberation Front held a ceremony in local hotel where the birthday cake was cut to mark the birth anniversary of the departed leader. Butt was put to gallows by India on this day at New Delhi’s Tihar Jail in 1984 for calling for the right to self- determination for the people of the Jammu Kashmir state. Speakers called upon the international community to exert pressure on India to immediately hand over the remains of Maqbool Butt to his family members for a proper burial.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 19^th, 2012.