Islamabad: A large number of people from Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) are marching Sunday towards the Line of Control (LoC) to protest India’s move to scrap the special status of Jammu and Kashmir.
Prime Minister Imran Khan warned Saturday the protesters not to cross the LoC, saying anyone crossing it to provide humanitarian aid or support for Kashmiris will ‘play into the hands of the Indian narrative’.
Tension between India and Pakistan has escalated after New Delhi revoked Jammu and Kashmir’s special status, August 5.
Pakistan has downgraded diplomatic ties with New Delhi and expelled the Indian High Commissioner. Pakistan has been trying to internationalise the Kashmir issue but India has asserted that the abrogation of Article 370 is its ‘internal matter’.
The marchers, mostly youngsters, reached ‘Garhi Dupatta’ Saturday from Muzaffarabad, the capital of the PoK. They stayed overnight at the ‘Garhi Dupatta’. Now they are moving on the Muzaffarabad-Srinagar Highway.
The protest march has been organised by Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF). A local JKLF leader Rafiq Dar told the media that UN Military Observers Group for India and Pakistan had also contacted them. He said the UN was urged to persuade India and Pakistan to not use force against peaceful protestors.
The protesters, in spite of Imran Khan’s announced have announced that they will cross the LoC. They are expected to reach Chakothi where they will be stopped by the authorities, sources said.
Meanwhile, Pakistan foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi urged US Senator Chris Van Hollen to visit areas on the two sides of the LoC to see the ground situation.
Hollen, along with US Charge d’ Affaires Ambassador Paul Jones, travelled Saturday to Multan afternoon to meet Qureshi, the Pak foreign office said in statement issued after midnight.
Qureshi appreciated Senator’s leadership role in proposing an amendment to the Senate Department of State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programmes Appropriations Bill, 2020 that explicitly expresses concern about the ‘humanitarian crisis in Kashmir’.
PTI