MUZAFFARABAD, Feb 15: Women staged a 'peace march' here on Tuesday calling for an end to hostilities in and withdrawal of 'foreign forces' from Kashmir.
The march, organized by the pro-independence Jammu Kashmir National Liberation Front (JKNLF), coincided with Indian Foreign Minister Natwar Singh's visit to Pakistan.
The JKNLF, founded by Kashmir's leading guerrilla leader Mohammad Maqbool Butt, seeks independence of Kashmir both from India and Pakistan. He was hanged in New Delhi's Tihar Jail on Feb 11, 1984.
"We want peace, we want freedom," shouted about 50 women and girls as they paraded from local press club to the office of UN's Military Observes to deliver a memorandum.
"It (Kashmir) is our homeland, we will rule it (and) we will decide its future," shouted the demonstrators who were carrying banners, placards and party flags, apart from Mr Butt's portraits.
A big banner vehemently condemned incidents of rape and killings of youths by troops in Indian Kashmir. However, one of frequently shouted slogans was about the road that connects the capitals of both the Kashmirs.
