JKNPP holds stir against Pakistan over ceasefire violations

JAMMU: In the wake of continuing ceasefire violations by Pakistan, which has now killed six civilians in two days, JKNPP today held a demonstration here against the neighbouring country over its alleged "unabated meddling" in India's internal affairs and overt and covert support to secessionists and anti-national forces in Jammu and Kashmir.

About 200 activists of Jammu and Kashmir National Panthers Party (JKNPP), donning black clothes and led by their chairman Harsh Dev Singh, today held a massive demonstration near the Press Club Jammu here to register their protest against Pakistan.

The protesters raised anti-Pakistan slogans and accused the neighbouring country of gross unwarranted interference in the affairs of Jammu and Kashmir.

The protesters, who waved the national flag and held up placards, flayed the Union and state governments for failing to respond appropriately to the Pakistani ceasefire violations.

Talking to reporters here, Singh charged that "Pakistan is creating an environment of terror and fear by resorting to firing and shelling on the borders and targeting civilian villages and engineering terror attacks".

He lambasted the statement by Abdul Basit, the Pakistani High Commissioner to India, on August 14 that his country would "never abandon the Kashmiris' legitimate struggle for freedom".

Singh, who said that Basit should be declared a 'persona non grata' by India, further charged that the Pakistan High Commissioner's conduct has all along been highly outrageous and violative of diplomatic norms and practices.