MUZAFFARABAD, April 28: The activists of Jammu and Kashmir National Students Federation (JKNSF) staged a barefoot march here on Thursday to condemn six-decade old agreement whereby the administrative control of Gilgit-Baltistan was assumed by the government of Pakistan.
“Down with Karachi Agreement,” they shouted during their nearly one-and-a half kilometer long march from Upper Adda to the Central Press Club.
The JKNSF activists were referring to the agreement signed in Karachi on April 28, 1949 by the then AJK President Sardar Mohammad Ibrahim Khan, Muslim Conference supreme head Chaudhry Ghulam Abbas and central government’s minister without portfolio Mushtaq Hussain Gormani.
“Jeewe Kashmir, meri jaan, Jammu, Gilgit-Baltistan (long live my beloved Kashmir, Jammu and Gilgit-Baltistan)” was another oft-repeated slogan during the rally which culminated in a token sit-in outside the press club.
Speaking on the occasion, leaders of the JKNSF, which advocates complete independence of Kashmir from India and Pakistan, termed Karachi Agreement a ‘document of slavery’ as it had impaired the integrity of their motherland.
They also condemned the grant of ‘provincial status’ to Gilgit-Baltistan saying it reflected the ‘imperialistic designs of Islamabad regarding the territory.’
“Gilgit-Balistan is part and parcel of the state of Jammu and Kashmir and we demand that its residents be given all fundamental as well as propriety rights on its resources.
But, at the same time, we strongly condemn and oppose all those measures that impair the identity of the region and integrity of the entire state,” said JKNSF leader Kamran Baig.
The JKNSF, he declared, would launch an agitation to thwart the conspiracies against the integrity and unity of the state of Jammu and Kashmir.
Mr Baig also called for immediate revival of a road link between Neelum Valley in AJK and Astore in the GB to enable the people of both the regions to meet and interact with one another frequently.
Sajjad Jagwal, a former JKNSF office bearer, also addressed the protestors and said hardly any ‘conscientious Kashmiri’ could tolerate this agreement.
Last year, an alliance of nearly a dozen nationalist organisations from GB and AJK had planned to hold a public meeting in Garhi Bagh Gilgit to condemn the Karachi Agreement. However, their plan was foiled by the GB administration by arresting around 11 alliance leaders.