Bilawal Bhutto calls up Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, says Pakistan Peoples Party will hold rallies for Kashmir

SRINAGAR: Amid India's assertion that Pakistan is fanning trouble in Kashmir, Pakistan Peoples Party chairman Bilawal Bhutto today called up separatist Hurriyat leader Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and said rallies would be held tomorrow to show "solidarity" with people of the state.

Bilawal, the son of former Pakistan Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto and former President Asif Ali Zardari, told Farooq over phone that he was concerned over the "abject human rights violation and the deteriorating situation" in the Valley, said a spokesman of the Hurriyat Conference.

The PPP leader told Mirwaiz that to express solidarity with the people of Kashmir, his party would organise programmes and take out rallies all over Pakistan tomorrow after the Friday prayers, the spokesman added.

Bilawal said like his grandfather Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and mother Benazir, he and his party stand for the resolution of the Kashmir issue "as per the wishes and aspirations of the Kashmiri people in light of resolutions adopted at the United Nations, said the spokesman.

Bilawal's phone call to the Mirwaiz came even as India said Pakistan has no locus standi in the developments in Kashmir and asked it to refrain from interfering in it.

External Affairs Ministry spokesman Vikas Swarup said Pakistan is "not only infiltrating terrorists from across the border but also fanning discontent within the Valley by prodviding various support to terrorist outfits."

Kashmir has been witnessing unrest since the killing of Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani by the security forces in an encounter last Friday. 36 people, including a policeman, have been killed and over 200 injured in the ensuing clashes between mobs and security forces.