Activists and freedom fighters in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (POK) received support from Dr Allah Nazar on Thursday when the Baloch revolutionary leader tweeted, for the first time, in support of arrested journalists Tanveer Ahmed and Safeer Ahmed. Tanveer and Safeer were arrested by Pakistan for pulling down Pakistan’s flag from Dadyal in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (POK).
“I strongly condemn the arrest of Tanveer Ahmed and Safeer Kashmiri in Pakistani Occupied Kashmir (PoK). We support and appreciate their struggle because we are facing similar problems and brutalities by Pakistan in Balochistan. #FreePoK,” said Dr Allah Nazar Baloch in his tweet.
Tanveer Ahmed had been demanding that Pakistani flags be removed from POK. He also went on a hunger strike for fifty two hours to pressurize the local administration to remove Pakistan’s flag but when the administration did not do so Tanveer Ahmed went ahead and removed Pakistan’s flag on August 21, after which he was arrested and tortured. When the administration refused to comply, Tanveer chose to remove the Pakistani flags on his own.
Kashmiris from the Pakistan-occupied Kashmir took to streets against the arrest of Tanveer Ahmed and Safeer Ahmed. A massive protest rally was organized under the auspices of Jammu and Kashmir National Awami Party at the Maqbool Bhatt Shaheed Chowk at Dadyal, POK.
“Release Tanveer Ahmed and Safeer Ahmed,” was the slogan chanted by the demonstrators. Several other Kashmiris who attended the protest rally said that their silence was being construed by Pakistanis as their weakness. “We know how to protect our state and our people. We will not remain silent to Pakistan’s injustice any longer,” a young participant in the protest rally told News Intervention.
Others who attended the rally condemned the incompetence of Dadyal administration in strong words. “Journalist Tanveer Ahmed and Safeer Ahmed Kashmiri have been arrested and tortured. All the officials who are involved in the arrest and torture must be suspended immediately and our protests will continue till Tanveer and Safeer are released unconditionally,” said Maqbool, a resident of Dadyal, Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.
News Intervention spoke to several people from Dadyal in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (POK) who said that Pakistan’s presence in POK is no more than that of an occupying country. Putting up Pakistan’s flag in forcibly occupied territory of Kashmir is to strengthen its hold, which is unconstitutional, illegal and immoral. Pakistan cannot consciously compromise on the national identity of the State of Jammu and Kashmir and its unity.
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