Pakistan: Protests held against India's Kashmir move

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan

Protests against the Indian government's move to scrap the special status of the Jammu and Kashmir region were held Tuesday across Pakistan.

Rallies were held in Kotli, Neelum Valley and Muzaffarabad, the capital of Pakistan administered Kashmir, according to state-run Radio Pakistan.

Demonstrations were also held in all major cities including Lahore, Faisalabad, Peshawar, Karachi and the country’s capital, Islamabad.

Protesters held black flags and chanted slogans against the Indian government’s decision Monday to end the special status granted to the country’s only Muslim-majority state which allowed it autonomy in exchange for joining the Indian union after independence in 1947.

"We strongly condemned the Indian government's decision on Monday and stand with our Kashmiri brothers and sisters," Mian Aslam, deputy chief of Jammat-e-Islami Pakistan told the crowd in Islamabad.

Jammat-e-Islami, a mainstream religious-political party organized the rallies to show solidarity with Indian-Administered Kashmir.

Aslam criticized world powers in remaining silent on India’s brutalities in Kashmir.

"Why are the United Nations Security Council and other world organizations silent over the situation in Kashmir?" asked Aslam.

India could never suppress the freedom struggle of the Kashmiri through using force, he added.

The ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party announced more nationwide demonstrations Friday.

Since 1947, Jammu and Kashmir enjoyed special provisions to enact its own laws. The provision also protected its citizenship law that disallowed outsiders to settle and own land in the territory.

The Himalayan region is held by India and Pakistan in parts and claimed by both in full.

Since they were partitioned in 1947, the two countries have fought three wars -- in 1948, 1965 and 1971 -- two of them over Kashmir.

Some Kashmir groups in Jammu and Kashmir have been fighting against Indian rule for independence, or for unification with neighboring Pakistan.

According to several human rights organizations, thousands of people have reportedly been killed in the conflict in the region since 1989.