LAHORE: The legal fraternity on Monday staged a protest demonstration outside the Lahore High Court against Indian prime minister Modi and the BJP government for revoking special status of India-held Kashmir by abrogating article 370 and 35-A.

Members of civil society organisations, lecturers and students also joined the lawyers at GPO Chowk holding placards and banners to protest and raise their voice against the Indian oppression. They chanted slogans against Modi and his extremist ideology.

Nasir Iqbal Khan, Makhdoom Waseem Qureshi, Ashfaq Ahmad Kharal, Tanvir Khan, Mian Ashraf Asmi, Sultan Hassan Butt, Mumtaz Awan and Younas Malik were among the prominent speakers at the protest.

They were of the view that the curfew imposed by the Modi administration in Kashmir, detentions of Kashmiri leadership and suspension of fundamental rights was a violation of international laws.

They condemned the lockdown in India-held Kashmir and demanded that the United Nations, OIC and other international organisations play prompt and effective role for restoring the supply of food, availability of medicine, telecommunications system and other basic facilities in the region.

The speakers called Indian actions illegal under international laws and UN treaties and further stressed the Modi government to reverse their decision to avoid war between two atomic powers.

They said if war started in South Asia then no one will be a winner.

They urged pacifists from both sides to play their role for normalising the relationship by resolving the issue of Kashmir as per the UN resolutions.

Published in Dawn, August 20th, 2019