ISLAMABAD – A shutdown was observed in Jammu and Kashmir as a mark ofprotest against India’s Republic Day on Sunday.
These strikes for the past 30 years have been one of several forms ofKashmiri resentment against the Indian rule.
In order to quell possible protests, Indian authorities suspended phone andinternet services which had been restored only a day earlier.
Troops were deployed to check cars at several checkpoints across the statecapital Srinagar.
Kashmiris living in the Pakistan-administered Azad Kashmir observed the dayas Black Day.
Rallies were held in Kotli, Neelum Valley and Muzaffarabad, Karachi, Lahoreand Peshawar and other cities, according to state-run Pakistan Television.
“Isn’t it shameful that despite usurping int’lly acknowledged basicdemocratic right2self determination of Kashmiris for 72yrs n unleashingterror on its own [Muslim]citizens under cover of a discriminatorycitizenship law India observes RepublicDay on Jan26? For us, its#BlackDay,” Azad Kashmir Prime Minister Raja Farooq Haider tweeted.
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Kashmir is held by India and Pakistan in parts and claimed both in full. Asmall sliver of Kashmir is also held by China.
Since they were partitioned in 1947, the two countries have fought threewars — in 1948, 1965 and 1971 — two of them over Kashmir.
Some Kashmiri groups in Jammu and Kashmir have been fighting against Indianrule for independence, or for unification with neighboring Pakistan.
According to several human rights organizations, thousands of people havereportedly been killed in the conflict in the region since 1989. – AnadoluAgency
*Islamuddin Sajid contributed to this story from Islamabad.