MUZAFFARABAD, Aug 11: A large number of Kashmiris demonstrated in Chakothi on Monday to sympathise with the “Kashmiris who are demonstrating across the Line of Control (LoC) and are being economically deprived by Hindu extremists”.

The demonstrators had arrived in more than 300 vehicles in the town, about 60 kilometres south of here, where police and army had erected a barbed-wire barrier to prevent them from crossing the LoC, just three kilometres away.

When some demonstrators tried to proceed beyond the barrier, police fired tear-gas shells to disperse them. In retaliation, demonstrators pelted the police with stones, injuring two constables, officials said.

The demonstration was organised by Jamaat-i-Islami and Jamaatud Dawa. Hard-line Kashmiri nationalist groups did not attend the rally.

AJK Prime Minister Sardar Attique Ahmed Khan cancelled his programme to attend the demonstration at the last moment.

While most of the demonstrators gradually returned from Chakothi in the afternoon, leaders of Jamaatud Dawa kept waiting for the marchers from across the LoC till the evening.