Days after ‘Kashmir Solidarity Hour’ turned to be damp squib, Imran Khan announces ‘big jalsa’ in Muzaffarabad this Friday

Islamabad: After his so-called ‘Solidarity Hour’ for Kashmiris turned out to be a damp squib, Pakistani prime minister Imran Khan on Wednesday announced that he will organise a “big jalsa” in Muzaffarabad, the capital of PoK. [caption id=“attachment_6178691” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image of Pakistan prime minister Imran Khan. Reuters[/caption] The prime minister, in a tweet, said that he will organise “a big jalsa” in Muzzafarabad on Friday (13 September), to send a message to the world about the “continuing siege” of Jammu and Kashmir and to “show the Kashmiris that Pakistan stands resolutely with them”. Of late, Twitter has become Khan’s favourite place to spew venom against India. This is despite the fact that the PoK itself has seen clashes over human rights violations. On 9 September, ANI had reported that large scale protests broke out in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) over atrocities by Pakistan Army and human rights violations. Pakistan’s much-hyped ‘Kashmir Solidarity Hour’ failed to garner much attention among the Pakistanis. On 30 August, Pakistani authorities had made desperate attempts to direct school children to join the protests in support of the people of Kashmir, but that failed to gather any steam. Authorities restricted traffic and blocked roads in view of the protests. All such moves greatly inconvenienced hundreds of Pakistanis as their daily lives were hampered. Ever since New Delhi announced the decision to abrogate Article 370 which gave special status to Jammu and Kashmir, a rattled Pakistan and its prime minister, who is often mocked as ‘selected prime minister’ have resorted to cheap rhetoric against India. Islamabad has also unsuccessfully tried to internationalise the Kashmir issue. India on its part has maintained that the issue is strictly internal to India.