London,23 February, 2001

Hundreds of members of the UK's Kashmiri organisations staged a protest rally a the Pakistani High Commission, in Earls Court, London. They were protesting at the continued detention of members of the All Parties National Alliance(APNA)who were arrested in Islamabad On 12th February. They also demanded that the planned expansion of Mangla Dam in Mirpur be halted to save a mass evacuation and displacement.

The Kashmiri APNA members were arrested along with some activists from the Gilgit/ Baltistan region while staging a demonstration at Abpara Chowk in Islamabad to protest at the closure of K2 Newspaper in Gilgit. Their demands to restore basic human rights to people of Gilgit including right to free expression met with a heavy hand from the Pakistani police. About 23 members of various groups including the JKLF were arrested
and sent to Rawalpindi's Adyallah jail and were held for 10 days without obtaining remand for custody from a court of law. Their relatives were also refused persmission to meet them in jail. A big protest rallies against the arrests were also held in Mirpur and in Muzafarabad.

The London protest was attended by JKNLF, Kashmiri Workers Association, JKPNP and the JKLF members including its president Shabir Choudhry. Earlier in the week a delegation met with a representative of the High Commission but failed to secure release of the men held in Islamabad. All 23 prisoners were, however, released without any charge in the night before the London demonstration. Ends.