Protests outside Indian Consulate in Britain and US over Kashmir move

Hundreds of Pakistanis and Kashmiris in the UK protested near the Consulate General of India in Birmingham against the abrogation of the special status for Jammu and Kashmir.

People from all walks of life participated in the protest which was organised by Tehreek-e-Kashmir (TeK) UK and chanted anti-India and pro-freedom slogans, the Express Tribune reported on Saturday.

Addressing the protest, TeK UK President Raja Fahim Kayani said: "The people of Britain will not rest until Kashmir is liberated from Indian occupation and genocide perpetrators are punished.

"Hundreds of thousands of Kashmiris have been killed in a 'dirty war' waged by the Hindutva forces only to quell legitimate their self-determination movement."

Condemning India's move on Kashmir, Kayani said: "The abrogation of the special status of Indian occupied Kashmir is an act of ultimate aggression. India's decision is part of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and MS Golwalkar ideologies that ensure the Muslims of India remain a second-class citizenry."

Kayani said that "such attempts were an open contravention of the UN resolutions on Kashmir which prohibit any unilateral action to change its disputed nature".

"It is time the world powers must realise that the right-wing agenda in India is paving a way to further the military conflict with Pakistan and China," he added.

TeK Europe President Muhammad Ghalib said: "... There is a humanitarian crisis in Kashmir. India's actions represent an unprecedented escalation in hostility across the region."

Ghalib urged the world to take "serious note of the situation in occupied Kashmir".

George Galloway, a former member of the British Parliament also joined the protest and called for a plebiscite in Kashmir.

The protesters later submitted a resolution at the Indian Consulate in Birmingham, demanding India "to immediately lift the curfew from the IoK and stop human right abuses in the region". Similar Protests took place in Consulate General of India in New York City.

The Protest outside the Indian consulate in NYC called it “India’s brazen occupation of Kashmir”.