Islamabad: Thousands of Pakistanis on Wednesday marked a “Black Day” over the Kashmir unrest by taking out protest rallies in various cities, while the government officials wore black armbands at workplaces.
Rallies were held in various cities to draw the attention of the international community on the Kashmir issue, the Express Tribune reported on Thursday.
Pakistan had announced to observe the Black Day on July 20 after violence erupted in Kashmir over the killing of terrorist Burhan Wani.
People from Karachi, Lahore, Peshawar, Multan, Muzaffarabad and other cities participated in the rally and shouted anti-India slogans.
The speakers have urged the UN to intervene and resolve the dispute, the report said.
The Pakistani government had directed all officers to wear black armbands at their workplaces to denounce “Indian atrocities” in Kashmir.
In a message, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif said that his government will raise the Kashmir case at all diplomatic, political and human rights fora.
He extended an “unflinching support” to the Kashmiri people.
“More than six decades ago the UN passed resolutions to hold plebiscite in Jammu and Kashmir but its people are still waiting the fulfilment of that promise,” the report quoted Sharif as saying.
In one of the protests, some 20,000 people have blocked a highway connecting Islamabad to Muzaffarabad.
Kashmir Affairs Minister Chaudhry Barjees Tahir reportedly said that the world peace was linked with the resolution of the Kashmir dispute.
“If the United Nations can get its resolutions implemented in East Timor, then why not on Kashmir?” the report quoted him as saying.
Various political, religious and social organisations participated in the rallies.
In Lahore, the lawyers’ community observed the day by hoisting black flags on bar buildings and wore black armbands at courts.
