MUZAFFARABAD, Jan 25: Activists of Jamaat-i-Islami Azad Jammu and Kashmir staged a demonstration on Saturday to condemn the arrests of freedom movement leaders in occupied Kashmir by India.

The demonstration was held to mark the “Detainees’ Day” on the call of the All Parties Hurriyat Conference.

“India, release Syed Ali Geelani and other detainees”, “Indian aggressors, leave our Kashmir,” read the placards, carried by the demonstrators who shouted slogans as they marched from Upper Adda to Bank Road. Geelani, a former Hurriyat chairman, was arrested in June last year under the Prevention of Terrorism Act.

Speaking at Bank Road, Muzaffarabad JI Amir Sheikh Aqeelur Rehman said India had unleashed a reign of terror in occupied Kashmir to suppress the freedom movement but its designs would never materialise because every Kashmiri was determined to fight till death to achieve freedom.

He asked the international community to play its role for the release of the Kashmiri leaders and thousands of youth.

He asked the army to “advance in Kashmir for liberation of the occupied territory, because it was the real religious, moral and national duty of Pakistan, which was a party to the dispute.”

The speakers deplored the recent statement of US Ambassador Nancy Powell and slammed Islamabad for “acting out of expediency.”

Activists of the Islami Jamiat Talba, AJK University unit, staged a demonstration outside the press club to protest against the possible US attack on Iraq.