Pakistan police arrest people protesting in pro-independence Kashmir rally: Report
Muzaffarabad: Amid bilateral tension with India, Pakistan police have arrested at least 22 people who were protesting at a pro-independence rally in Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir (POK), an Al Jazeera report said.
The arrests have taken place after the protesters clashed with police at Tatrinote village, which is close to the Line of Control (LoC), on last Sunday.
District police chief Tahir Mahmood Qureshi told Al Jazeera that the protesters were arrested as they were crossing the protesting area.
"We were giving them a safe route, but they wanted to go to an exposed area where Indians could have shelled them," Qureshi has been quoted by Al Jazeera.
The protesters belong to a faction of prominent Kashmiri political party Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) which advocates independence of Jammu and Kashmir from both the countries.
"Our main demand is that the international community must take steps to resolve the issue of Kashmir and take steps to send back the armies of both countries ," JKLF leader Toqeer Gilani said as quoted by Al Jazeera.
However much it tried to corner India over Kashmir at the UN or other forum, Pakistan has been grappling protests and campaigns against its human rights abuses in international fora.
Two days after India scrapped Article 370 withdrawing Jammu and Kashmir's special status, Pakistan, which has been backing militancy in Jammu and Kashmir, got the taste of its own medicine when much similar to the ones by the separatist groups were doing in India, posters in favour of India's establishment of control in Balochistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) appeared in capital Islamabad after India abrogated Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir.
Balochistan, Pashtun and Sindh leaders from Pakistan have organized protests in Geneva to highlight the continuing atrocities on Baloch people by the Pakistani authority in their region.
The Save the Baloch movement recently organised a demonstration at the Broken Chair monument outside the United Nations offices in Geneva to create awareness of the atrocities the Baloch have historically faced and continue to suffer at the hands of the Pakistani government.
The 42nd session of the UN Human Rights Council is currently underway in Geneva, and posters and banners highlighting the human rights transgressions of Pakistan in Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa popped up outside the entrance to the UN building.
The “#PakistanStopGenocide” campaign, a movement created by the Balochis, seeks to rouse International support for the Baloch as they remain sandwiched in the middle of a Pakistani-sanctioned genocide. extra-judicial killings, torture, and forced disappearances of rights activists.
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