Hundreds from Luton join anti-India protest in London

LUTON: Hundreds of people from Luton joined a massive protest outside Indian High Commission London on India’s Independence Day on Thursday over Modi’s illegal acts in occupied Kashmir.

Luton Coordinator Haji Ch Mohammad Qurban said tensions were high in the Indian-held Kashmir region, and Pakistani Kashmiri community was very much concerned.

Talking to The News, he said Luton’s community was outraged by the Indian decision to revoke Jammu and Kashmir’s special status. Another organiser Raja Faisal Kiani said they were very much concerned that currently there was no communication service and severe restrictions had been reported on movement in the Indian-held Kashmir by Indian authorities.

He said on August 9, over 1,500 people had marched from Luton Central Mosque in Westbourne Road to Luton Town Hall, adding now they were joining London protest to highlight the situation in occupied Kashmir.

World Kashmir Freedom Movement’s Nazeer Ahmed Qureshi said they had gathered to highlight the severe violation of human rights in Indian-held Kashmir. Al Hira Educational and Cultural Trust Director Professor Massud Akhtar Azarvi, Jamia Islamia Ghosia Luton’s Qazi Abdul Rasheed Chishti and Khan Mehboob Khan Chishti, Mullana Hafiz Ejaz Ahmed of Central Mosque Luton, Haji Ch Mohammad Shafiat Poothi, Haji Ch Nisar, Haji Javed, Tanveer Maneer, Ch Walyat Khan and Palawan Haji Malik Pinu Khan demanded of India to lift the curfew and allow Kashmiri people to be reconnected with the outside world.

A Kashmiri woman activist, Naila Khan, JKLF activists Syed Tesheen Gillani, Sabir Gull, Khawaja Lateef, Rajah Kaman Afsar, Ch Pervez, Basheer Bazam, Yousaf Ch, Liaqat Ali Ch, Malik Liaqat, PPP activists Araf Ch, Ch Mohammad Akram, Azam Raja, Masaud Rana, PMLN Haji Ch Pervez Akhtar Vehari, Syed Hussain Shahed Sarwar, Zaroof Raja, Muslim Conference Shabbir Malik, Raja Yaqoob Khan, a former mayor Ch Mohammad Ashraf, Riaz Butt, PTI Shaukat Raja , Khuram Malik, KFM Zahid Kalyal and many others joined the protest.

They urged the UK government to use its offices to publicly condemn all the actions of the Indian government against Kashmiris.