KARACHI, Pakistan
Braving heavy rains, thousands of people took to streets in the southern port city of Karachi on Sunday, protesting against India's scrapping Jammu and Kashmir of its special autonomous status.
Carrying flags of Pakistan and Pakistani-administered Kashmir -- commonly known as Azad Kashmir -- protesters gathered at the city's main Shahrah-e-Faisal boulevard.
Organized by the Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) -- the country's mainstream religious party -- it was attended by representatives of several political and religious parties, including former Chairman of Pakistan’s Senate Raza Rabbani.
Hundreds of women under heavy rain were seen carrying banners and placards, engraved with slogans like: "I stand with Kashmir", "India quit Kashmir”, "save Kashmir" and “Kashmir will become Pakistan."
Others carried placards plastered with pictures of pro-freedom leaders of Jammu and Kashmir, Syed Ali Gilani, Yaseen Malik, and Burhan Muzaffer Wani -- a young fighter who inspired a large number of Kashmiri youth before he was killed in a clash with the Indian army in 2016.
"We have gathered here to tell our Kashmiri brethren that the whole Pakistani nation stands beside them in their fair struggle", Alia Hussein, a female participant of the rally, told Anadolu Agency, carrying her infant son.
Addressing the rally, the chief of JI, senator Siraj-ul-Haq warned that if the global community fails to act and does not stop India from its "cleansing” campaign of Kashmiris, the minorities in India will become the next target of India’s Hindu nationalist government.
"We don't care about the scrapping of special rights of the occupied Kashmir. We will not stop even if India restores the so-called Article 370", Haq said, adding, "Our struggle will continue till the liberation of Kashmir from the Indian occupation."
Haq argued that the annulment of the article by India paved the way for international intervention in the Himalayan region as New Delhi itself had violated the agreements it had pledged to Kashmiris in 1947 and 1950.
He asked Islamabad to come out of all bilateral agreements with India on the Jammu and Kashmir.
