“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 [from Kashmir],” a protester said.
Pakistani police arrested 22 pro-independence protesters in Pakistan administered Kashmir. The protesters were demonstrating near the village of Tatrinote, close to the Line of Control about 80km south of the capital of Pakistan-administered Kashmir, Muzaffarabad.
The Line of Control (LoC) is the de facto border dividing India’s Kashmir from Pakistan’s Kasmir. Clashes erupted between protesters and police Saturday near the LoC when the arrests took place. On Monday, the protesters continued a sit-in at the site against the arrests.
The protests were called by the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF), a prominent pro-freedom party that calls for an independent Kashmir free from both India and Pakistan.
“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 [from Kashmir],” Toqeer Gilani, a senior JKLF leader in Pakistan-administered Kashmir told Al-Jazeera.
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