Thousands of people in Pakistan rallied in major cities on Wednesday to mark one year since neighbouring India scrapped the special status of the disputed region of Kashmir.
Political leaders, trade unions, councils for lawyers and rights activists participated in the rallies to condemn what they called a "repressive Indian decision."
President Arif Alvi and Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi led the biggest rally in the capital Islamabad where protesters chanted anti-India slogans and called on the global powers to intervene.
The Indian government announced on August 5, 2019, that it was changing the status of Kashmir, a Himalayan valley controlled in parts by New Delhi and Islamabad but claimed by both in its entirety.
Islamabad rejected what it sees as an annexation of Kashmir by New Delhi, which in turn opposes Islamabad's position that the region's fate should be decided through a plebiscite under the United Nations (UN).
Pakistan downgraded diplomatic relations with India, suspended a cross-border bus service and halted bilateral trade.
"The Indian move in Kashmir is the worst rights violation," President Alvi said.
Prime Minister Imran Khan urged the world to intervene against the move that made 8 million Muslims in Kashmir prisoners in their own homes.
Pakistan's cabinet on Tuesday approved a new map showing the entire Kashmir region as part of the country and renamed a major road in Islamabad Srinagar Highway, after the capital of the Indian part of Kashmir.
Pakistan and India, nuclear-armed South Asian rivals, have fought three wars since they gained independence from Britain in 1947.
