KARACHI: Posters demanding the liberation of India-held Kashmir and some Indian states have appeared on metro buses and trams in Geneva, where the 36th session of the United Nations Human Rights Council is currently under way.

The Pakistan Television Network posted a number of images on its official Twitter account (@PTVNewsOfficial) on Monday night, showing such posters. Some of them read: “Jammu and Kashmir seeks attention”, ‘‘Free Nagaland” and “Free Indigenous Tripura”.

Nobody has claimed responsibility for putting up the posters.

The appearance of posters comes days after Pakistan’s Permanent Representative to the UN Ambassador Farukh Amil drew the attention of the Swiss authorities to a “Free Balochistan” campaign in Geneva.

In his letter, Mr Amil demanded the Swiss authorities investigate the display of “anti-Pakistan” posters in Geneva and take action to stop such an incident from occurring again.

Ambassador-designate of Switzerland, Thomas Kelly, was also summoned to the Foreign Office by Additional Secretary for Europe Zaheer A. Janjua to lodge a protest against the display of “anti-Pakistan posters and an insidious paid campaign against Pakistan”, according to a handout issued earlier by the FO.

On Sept 21, the Senate suspended till further notice the workings of a Pak-Switzerland Friendship Group in reaction to the appearance of “Free Balochistan” posters.

Earlier, Senate Chairman Raza Rabbani described the occurrence of the posters as an attack on Pakistan’s sovereignty and asked Law Minister Zahid Hamid why the posters continued to be displayed in Switzerland even after Pakistan had summoned the Swiss ambassador and recorded its protest.

“According to the UN Charter, no country can allow its soil to be used against another state,” Mr Rabbani said.

Senators have also insisted on expelling the Swiss ambassador from Pakistan.

Published in Dawn, September 27th, 2017