- Title: Tens of thousands of Pakistanis hold anti-India demonstration over Kashmir
- Date: 30th August 2019
- Summary: (SOUNDBITE) (Urdu) PAKISTANI PRIME MINISTER, IMRAN KHAN, SAYING: "The reason for today's event is to tell our Kashmiri brethren that we are all standing with them. We are with them in their testing times. The message that goes out of here today is that as long as Kashmiris don't get freedom, we will stand with them. We will struggle with them till our last breath." CROWD CHEERING AND WAVING FLAGS (SOUNDBITE) (Urdu) PAKISTANI PRIME MINISTER, IMRAN KHAN, SAYING: "We know fully well that India, in order to divert attention from Kashmir, is now planning to carry out some sort of a False Flag Operation in Azad Kashmir, like the attack they carried out in Balakot after the Pulwama incident. We are telling the world from now that they will do something of that sort in Azad Kashmir. But if they do something like that in Azad Kashmir, I am telling (Indian PM) Narendra Modi that we will retaliate to their brickbats with stones." CROWD CHEERING AND WAVING FLAGS (SOUNDBITE) (Urdu) PAKISTANI PRIME MINISTER, IMRAN KHAN, SAYING: "Here, our army is ready. It is ready for anything that they (India) might try in Azad Kashmir. But the world must know that if the two nuclear armed countries face off with each other, it will not bring destruction to the subcontinent alone. It will bring destruction to the whole world." VARIOUS OF PEOPLE GATHERED FOR RALLY IN STREETS OF ISLAMABAD WOMEN HOLDING BIG PAKISTANI FLAG CHANTING (English): "GO MODI, GO" WOMEN MARCHING AND CHANTING (Urdu): "RESTORE COMMUNICATION SYSTEMS WITH KASHMIR." LAHORE, PAKISTAN (AUGUST 30, 2019) (REUTERS) PAKISTAN RAILWAYS (PR) TRAIN HALTED AT RAILWAY STATION FOR KASHMIR DAY EVENT / PASSENGER LEAVING WITH BAG SIDE OF TRAIN READING (English): "BUSINESS CLASS" VARIOUS OF RAILWAY PORTERS AND PASSENGERS MARCHING AND CHANTING KARACHI, PAKISTAN (AUGUST 30, 2019) (REUTERS) DEMONSTRATORS GATHERED OUTSIDE MAZAR-E-QUAID MAUSOLEUM OF FOUNDER OF PAKISTAN, MOHAMMAD ALI JINNAH VARIOUS OF CROWD CHANTING WORLD FAMOUS FORMER PAKISTAN CRICKET CAPTAIN, SHAHID AFRIDI, (WEARING BROWN T-SHIRT) WAVING AT CROWD CROWD GATHERED ROUND AFRIDI FORMER PAKISTAN CRICKET CAPTAIN, SHAHID AFRIDI, SAYING: "Kashmir is linked to me. It is linked to my coming generations. The entire population of Pakistan, from Karachi (in the South) to the Khyber (in the North), all of us are with Kashmir. We stand with the people of Kashmir." CROWD WAVING FLAGS AND CHANTING (Urdu): "WE WILL SNATCH FREEDOM! FREEDOM IS OUR RIGHT!" MAN WAVING FLAGS OF PAKISTAN AND KASHMIR
- Embargoed: 13th September 2019 13:32
- Keywords: Pakistan anti-India demonstration Kashmir rally Prime Minister Imran Khan India Islamabad
- Location: ISLAMABAD, LAHORE AND KARACHI, PAKISTAN
- City: ISLAMABAD, LAHORE AND KARACHI, PAKISTAN
- Country: Pakistan
- Topics: Government/Politics
- Reuters ID: LVA003AUERCXZ
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text:Cities around Pakistan came to a standstill on Friday (August 30) as tens of thousands of people poured onto the streets in a government-led demonstration of solidarity with the disputed region of Kashmir, after India revoked its autonomy this month.
The Pakistani national anthem and an anthem for Kashmir played across television and radio, while traffic came to a standstill, traffic lights were switched off and trains stopped, as part of Prime Minister Imran Khan's campaign to draw global attention to the plight of the divided Himalayan region.
"We are with them in their testing times. The message that goes out of here today is that as long as Kashmiris don't get freedom, we will stand with them," Khan told thousands of demonstrators in the capital, Islamabad.
The Muslim-majority region has long been a flashpoint between nuclear-armed Indian and Pakistan. Both countries rule parts of Kashmir while claiming it in full.
India stripped its part of Kashmir of a special status on August 5, blocking the right of the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir to frame its own laws and allowing non-residents to buy property there.
The government said the reform would facilitate Kashmir's development, to the benefit of all, but the decision by the Indian government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi infuriated many residents of the region.
India's decision also angered Pakistan, which cut trade and transport ties and expelled India's ambassador.
The U.N. Security Council adopted several resolutions in 1948 and in the 1950s on the dispute between India and Pakistan over Kashmir, including one which says a plebiscite should be held to determine the future of the region.
(Production: Salahuddin, Salman Rao, Naeem Abbas, Waseem Sattar, Sheree Sardar) - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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