Kashmir Indian Independence Day Protests: A big protest outdoors the Indian Excessive fee by Kashimiris blocked Aldwych on Thursday fifteenth August 2019, Indian Independence Day, in opposition to arrests and human rights abuses in Kashmir. Later folks protested in Trafalgar Sq..
Varied teams got here to sentence Indian Prime Minister Modi’s revocation of Article 370 of the Indian Structure and name for freedom for Kashmir which has been occupied for a few years by over 700,000 Indian troops. They need the rights of the Kashmiri folks revered and UN resolutions applied.
India celebrates Independence Day yearly on fifteenth August, the anniversary of the day when that nation gained independence from the UK on 15 August 1947, although it was solely in January 1950 that it eliminated the British King as head of state (which is well known on Indian Republic Day on twenty sixth January.)
fifteenth August 1947 was additionally when India was partitioned into India and Pakistan, an occasion with violent riots and plenty of deaths, with round 15 million folks being displaced from their properties because of spiritual violence.
In 1947 Kashmir was a ‘princely state’ dominated by a maharajah and part of Britain’s Indian Empire. Over three-quarters of its inhabitants have been Muslims and it was anticipated to change into a part of the brand new Pakistan, however after Pakistan started to make use of guerrilla troopers to attempt to pressure the choice the ruler turned to the British Governor-Basic for navy help. Mountbatten solely gave this provided that Kashmir would change into part of the brand new state of India.
Indian troopers got here and cleared out the Pakistani irregular troopers from a lot of the state. However regardless of UN intervention there was no actual decision, with two additional wars over Kashmir and a seamless big and repressive navy occupation with big ranges of arrests and human rights abuses.
India now controls round half of the previous princely state and Pakistan round a 3rd with the remaining being below Chinese language management because the Nineteen Fifties. China had by no means accepted agreements made within the late nineteenth century concerning the jap area of Kashmir.
Underneath Article 370 of the Indian Structure Kashmir was given particular standing with restricted autonomy and UN resolutions known as for a referendum to determine the way forward for the state.
The protesters included teams from each the Indian and Pakistan administered areas of Kashmir. As I arrived there have been some scuffles and pretend blood was thrown along with the embassy, however the crowd was too dense for me to get to the scene, with police additionally refusing to let me get there.
After a number of hours of protest on Aldwych the crowds started to skinny, with many transferring away to an additional protest in Trafalgar Sq. which I additionally coated.
This ‘Stand with Kashmir’ protest had been organised by supporters of independence for Kashmir and heated arguments started when one speaker known as for all Pakistan flags to be eliminated. A number of law enforcement officials got here in to separate the 2 teams of protesters and permit each protests to proceed.
Those that supported Kashmir as a Pakistani state, or a state with a detailed relation to Pakistan moved in direction of the highest of the steps and continued in a largely separate rally, waving Pakistan flags and with some speeches, together with from Sahibzada A Jahangir, spokesman to the Prime Minister of Pakistan.
The principle rally continued additional down the steps, with a bigger crowd primarily in the primary physique of the sq..
Extra footage from each the Indian Excessive Fee and Trafalgar Sq. on My London Diary:
Kashmir Indian Independence Day Protest
Stand with Kashmir
Tags: arrests, Article 370, blindings, freedom for Kashmir, human rights, human rights abuses, India, Indian Structure, Indian Excessive Fee, Indian occupation, Kashmir, Kashmiris, killings, London, navy occupation, Pakistan, Pakistan flags, peter Marshall, police, Prime Minister Modi, protest
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