Pakistan police on Friday (July 31) detained a number of protesters during a rally outside the Lahore Press Club, where demonstrators gathered to condemn violence and express solidarity with activists in Pakistan-administered Kashmir.
The “Kashmir Solidarity Demonstration” in support of the banned Joint Awami Action Committee (JAAC), an alliance of civil society groups in Pakistani Kashmir, was organized by progressive groups, student unions and labour organisations.
Protesters carried placards, flags of Pakistani-administered Kashmir and chanted slogans.
As soon as they started rally, police moved in to disperse the gathering and taking several demonstrators into custody.
Officers escorted detainees to police prison van as the protest was brought to an end.
The protest followed deadly unrest linked to regional elections in Pakistan-administered Kashmir. Leaders of a banned Kashmiri group said more than 30 people were killed in clashes with security forces ahead of the second round of voting.
A number of people are alleged to have been killed in Pakistan Occupied Jammu and Kashmir in the last week as part of what has been claimed is a brutal state crackdown that has engulfed the disputed region for weeks.
According to Joint Awami Action Committee (JAAC), the Pakistani security services fired on tens of thousands of peaceful protesters, killing 25 people on Monday and five more on Tuesday.
A wave of protests and violence in Pakistani Kashmir started in June. The state has imposed a severe communication shutdown in response, including an internet blackout that cut the region off from the rest of Pakistan, and began carrying out mass arrests.
Amnesty International called for Pakistani authorities to lift the communications blackout.
JAAC and their supporters had taken to the streets to call for electoral reform in the heavily militarised region. Monday marked the first phase of an election disputed by local groups who say a system of reserved seats for refugees from Indian-administered Kashmir now living across Pakistan gives outsiders too much control over the region.
No comments:
Post a Comment