JKLF calls off LoC sit-in after meeting with UN observers

 The Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) agreed to call off its protest sit-in near the Line of Control (LoC) following a meeting with the United Nations Military Observer Group of India and Pakistan (UNMOGIP).

Last week, Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) police had placed containers and deployed a large contingent of officers near Jaskool, eight kilometres from the LoC, to stop the JKLF workers and supporters who wanted to cross the border to help Indian Kashmiris.

The JKLF-led march had since come to a halt, and the protesters had been staging a sit-in under large tents erected on the main Muzaffarabad-Srinagar road, a report in the Pakistani media said.

PoK Prime Minister Raja Farooq Haider and others reached Jaskool to persuade the protesters to end their hunger strike and protest.

The JKLF leaders had appealed to the PoK administration to remove the obstacles and let the marchers cross the LoC.

The delegation led by Haider met UN observers in Muzaffarabad on Wednesday, and demanded an end to repression in Jammu and Kashmir.

PoK speaker Shah Ghulam Qadir, Minister Transport Nasir Hussain Dar, and other leaders were part of the delegation which held negotiations with the UNMOGIP representatives.

The delegation called upon the UN to send its fact-finding mission to Kashmir, pressure India to restore the pre-August 5 status of Jammu and Kashmir and resolve the Kashmir dispute keeping in view the wishes of the Kashmiri people.

Speaking on the occasion, the PoK premier said he would let UN Observers visit any part of PoK.IANS