Afghans hold anti-Pak protest in Kabul, say leave Kashmir alone

(ANI)

The protesters, carrying placards like 'down with Pakistan' and 'Pakistan is enemy', were demanding the release of Manzoor Pashteen, the chief of Pashtun Tahafuz Movement -- a movement for the protection of ethnic Pashtun people in Pakistan.

Pashteen, the 27-year-old activist, was arrested along with nine supporters in Peshawar last month and sent to jail on a 14-day judicial remand.

The protest dampened the plans of the Pakistan Embassy to hold anti-India events on the occasion of the so-called Kashmir Solidarity Day which Pakistan observes every year on February 5. Pakistan has been marking this day since 1990 calling for the secession of Kashmir from India.

Interestingly, the Intercontinental Hotel where Pakistan was planning to hold the anti-India event in Kabul cancelled the booking of the Pakistan Embassy as the programme was direct interference in India's internal affairs.

Anti-Pakistan sentiments in Afghanistan have been rising with Islamabad's mounting atrocities against the Pashtuns in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and FATA.

The Afghan government has time and again accused Pakistan of supporting the Taliban and other terror groups to create instability in the war-torn country.