MUZAFFARABAD, Feb 14: The entire political and religious leadership of Azad Jammu and Kashmir as well as representatives of the All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC) on Thursday unanimously condemned Indian atrocities in Indian held Kashmir and recent hanging of Mr Afzal Guru.

Observers said it was first time in many years that the heads of all major political and religious parties and the AJK rulers had got together on a single platform to affirm their support to Kashmirs freedom struggle.

The assemblage also put across the message of unflinching support to the Kashmiris, battling for fulfilment of their right to self-determination.

The rally was presided over by AJK President Sardar Mohammad Yaqoob Khan while the visiting Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) chairman Yasin Malik was the chief guest.

Prominent among other leaders were Prime Minister Chaudhry Abdul Majeed, leader of the opposition and PML-N AJK chapter president Raja Farooq Haider, former premier and Muslim Conference president Sardar Attique Ahmed Khan and Jamaat-e-Islami AJK ameer Abdul Rashid Turabi.

The speakers condemned India for converting occupied Kashmir into a virtual prison for its inhabitants and pointed out that while the judicial murder of Mr Guru was another stain on Indias reputation as a killer state it had at the same time injected a new life in the disputed region’s freedom struggle.

Taking strong exception to the surreptitious burial of Mr Guru within the premises of infamous Tihar Jail, they called upon the international community to pressure India through diplomatic channels to return the bodies of Mr Guru and Maqbool Butt to their families for a respectable burial according to Islamic rites.

Almost all speakers called for complete unity of thought and approach among the pro-freedom forces on both sides of the divide to effectively fight Indias aggression and achieve the goal of freedom at the earliest.