MUZAFFARABAD: Marches and meetings were held across Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) on Tuesday to condemn “sham elections” in India-held Kashmir.

“No to elections under the shadow of guns. We need plebiscite,” read a big banner held aloft by participants of a procession organised by the Pasban-i-Hurriyat and International Forum for Justice, which represent refugees and former militants.  

The participants of another procession, organised by the Refugees Welfare Organisation, joined those of the first at Garhipan, from where they jointly marched on office of the UN military observers to deliver a memorandum.

The participants were holding up black flags and placards, inscribed with anti-India and pro-freedom slogans. “We prefer death over slavery,” read one placard.

Separately, a public meeting was held at the press club which was organised by the AJK government and presided over by finance minister and Peoples Party’s secretary-general Chaudhry Latif Akbar.

“A process carried out in the presence of a huge army can never be considered as an alternative to the plebiscite enshrined in the UN Security Council resolutions on Kashmir,” Mr Akbar said.

“Such an exercise is not only in sheer disregard to the resolutions but also all international laws and norms,” the minister said on the occasion.

Meanwhile, the Jammu and Kashmir People’s Freedom League chairman Muhammad Farooq Rehmani also denounced the assembly elections and termed them a violation of the UN resolutions.

He urged the Pakistani government to launch a worldwide campaign for the resolution of the Kashmir issue with the help of leaders of friendly countries and true representatives of the Kashmiris.

Published in Dawn, November 26th, 2014