MUZAFFARABAD, Jan 26: People in Azad Jammu and Kashmir staged rallies and demonstrations on Wednesday on India's Republic Day to remind the international community that the so-called largest democracy had been persistently denying Kashmiris their internationally acknowledged right to self-determination.

In state capital Muzaffarabd a public meeting was held at the old civil secretariat under the aegis of Kashmir Liberation Cell which was addressed among others by AJK senior minister Syed Mumtaz Ali Gillani, minister for food Raja Abdul Qayyum, minister for sports, youth and culutre Deevan Ali Chughtai, Jamaat i Islami leader Shaikh Aqeelur Rehman and Jammu Kashmir Liberation League leader Chaudhry Raj Mohammad.

A rally was taken out at the conclusion of the public meeting with its participants waving black flags as well as banners and placards inscribed with anti-India and pro-freedom slogans.

"There is slaughter of humanity under the cover of democracy and secularism", one of the banners read. The rally ended at the office of the United Nations Military Observers near Domel - the confluence of rivers Neelum and Jhelum, where a memorandum for the UN Secretary General Kofi Annan was delivered.

The memorandum called upon the UN chief to exert pressure on India to stop unabated killings and other inhuman atrocities in the held territory. It also urged him to use his good offices in granting right to self-determination to Kashmiris which had been pledged to them more than five decades ago by the world body through several Security Council resolutions.

Earlier, speaking at the public meeting, Mr Gillani said India had no right to celebrate its republic day when it had usurped the basic and internationally acknowledged right of Kashmiris.

He appreciated the Kashmir policy of President Gen Pervez Musharraf, but simultaneously urged him to take such a stand in the changed scenario which should not waste the sacrifices of Kashmiris.

Separately, Shababal Muhajiroon, an organization of Kashmiri refugees, staged a sit-in for one hour outside the UN Military Observers' office to observe Indian Republic Day as black day.