SRINAGAR, Feb 10 (1992) – The leading militant group in Kashmir has called for mass protests in support of Tuesday’s planned crossing into the northern Indian state by hundreds of Kashmiris from Pakistan.
The Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF), in a statement issued here late Sunday, asked Kashmiris to stage a series of demonstrations to voice their opposition to India’s “illegal occupation” of the state.
“All shops will remain open and life should go on as usual. But people should come out and demonstrate,” JKLF chief Javed Ahmed Mir told AFP by telephone from an undisclosed location.
In a separate statement, Mir, who is wanted by the Indian authorities, called on JKLF supporters to assemble at the Line of Control separating Indian- and Pakistan-controlled Kashmir “and greet the marchers” as they made the crossing.
The announcement came as India stepped up security on its side of the Line of Control, where it has deployed hundreds of extra troops.
Several militant groups are fighting for the Indian-controlled southern two-thirds of Kashmir to join with Pakistan while others, such as the JKLF, want independence for the whole state.
The marchers set out Sunday from the Pakistani city of Rawalpindi for Muzaffarabad — the capital of Pakistan-held Kashmir — from where they plan to cross over into the Indian section.
Pakistan has banned the march, and the JKLF said in Rawalpindi that eight people had been injured and a dozen arrested when police, using tear gas and batons, tried to stop the marchers.
New Delhi has also pledged to stop them entering India, by force if need be, and has called on the members of the U.N. Security Council to exert pressure on Islamabad.
India and Pakistan have fought two wars over Kashmir — a Moslem-majority state — since independence in 1947.
